Friendship is a life saver
by Goateeman
Summary: Just before he can take his life, social recluse Marcus Kelly is transported to the land of Equestria, where he learns that with the power of friendship, life is worth living again. But when one of his friendships turns into a romance, and jealousy brews, how will Marcus deal with it all? (As of September 7th, 2014, the story had been re-written. Check it out!)
1. Chapter 1

Friendship is a life saver ch 1

I remember as a kid I had a fascination with everything military. Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy, and even the Coast Guard had me infatuated. I would sit in my room for hours setting up large scale battles with those little green army men that every kid in America has played with at least once in their lives. I had them face off against the tan versions of themselves that I set up all over my room. I couldn't tell you how many times my parents would walk in the room to tell me it was dinner or something, only to step on one of them. Needless to say they were pretty pissed.

I took my love for the military everywhere I went. I refused to take showers, only baths, that way I could play with all my navy boats. I would always walk around the house with one of the many Nerf guns I had, pretending that there were bad guys behind every corner. I told my parents that I would someday join the military, but then something changed.

My family has a history of depression, going all the way back to the 1840's when my x6 great grandfather killed himself by a gunshot to the head, unfortunately the trend caught on. It seemed like in every other generation someone in my direct family would kill themselves or suffer depression. I happened to get the short end of the stick and ended up with depression. I only started to notice this when I was eight years old. I remember sitting on the living room couch, eating some Honey Nut Cheerios and watching SpongeBob back when it was still good. I don't know why I was up at 7:00 A.M on a day when I had no school, probably out of habit. It was a cool autumn day, a perfect time to go outside and pick up the giant leaves that would fall out of the tress in front of our house. I was planning to do that when my mom came rushing into the living room and took the remote away from me.

"Mom! I'm watching TV!" I complained. Mom told me that something really big had just happened in New York and she needed to see it. She changed the channel to CNN and got to witness the fucking world trade center was up in flames, me and my mom were shocked, but the worst came not five minutes later when a plane hit the other tower. My mom gasped, I couldn't help but do so also. The news commentators speculated it was terrorists, and they were right. That day I got my first real taste of the real world, how anyone anywhere can be taken away in an instant, much like my father.

Me and dad were unusually close, not in a strange way mind you, but more attached then other fathers and sons. Since my mom constantly traveled to afford the nice house we lived in up in Alaska, she wasn't around a lot. My dad was a lumberjack, and by God did he look like one. He had a long mullet, his arm hair looked like he glued an entire bush to his arms, and his beard was long and well groomed. I inherited his hairy genes, growing my first goatee when I was only fourteen. I remember all the great times we had together. He would be there if I scraped my knee, or if I got sick, which was a lot. He's the one who bought me most of my toys, and I could never thank the man enough. He was a tall motherfucker too, standing at 6'5 and 240 pounds; he was cut out for his job. The greatest memory I had with him is when I was nine or ten and we played Grand Theft Auto III together. We would enter cheat codes and take turns wreaking havoc on Liberty City. Whenever he would get killed in the game we would let out a loud swear, laugh, and hand me the controller. Me and him were close, so why did he have to die?

I remember that day to the exact detail. I remember walking to school during the winter when I was sixteen, nearly slipping on the icy sidewalk. I don't know why we had school that day, granted it was only a half day, but when someone can crack his head open from slipping on the sidewalk on the way to said establishment, I think they should close down for the day. I remember it was during second period chemistry, I was pouring hydrochloric acid into a test tube when the principal walked in and pulled me out of class. I could hear the snickers of my asshole classmates; they assumed I had done something wrong. Once the door to the classroom was closed the principal handed me his cell phone with my mom on the other end. She was sobbing, she could barely speak. She was able to cough up the fact that dad was in a major car crash on the highway, the roads were icy and he lost control, and died on the spot. I closed the cell phone while my mom was still talking, handed it back to the principal, and sat down in the hallway. I didn't cry, I was too stunned to even consider that. The principal told me I could have the rest of the day off, so I took him up on his offer.

The walk home was one of the most painful things I've ever had to go through. For every step I took, I would say "He's dead" over and over until those two words lost all their meaning. My mom wasn't there when I got home, so I spent the time I had to myself crying in my room. I cried for two hours straight, I can't even describe how long that is. My eyes felt like someone had poured acid down them, my body was so weak that I could barely even move, I was at my lowest point ever, and I changed that day. I remember looking around my room, looking at all my military toys and posters, and smiled. I knew if I failed high school I could always join the Army, so that way my chances of coming home a bullet ridden corpse were at their all-time high. But at least I would be with dad. My classmates tried to talk to me following what happened, but I shoved them aside.

I was never the social type to begin with. I hated most of the people in my classes in any given grade, and never made any REAL friends. I was a lone wolf, and preferred it that way. I saw the other kids as mere obstacles blocking my way to class with their fatass bodies; I felt no emotion towards them at all. As I grew older and my depression became more evident I went through a personality change. I went from preppy and fun-loving to downright cynical. I became a misanthrope, a person who hates all other people. Everyone I saw, everyone I came into contact with was the scum of the earth, and they couldn't fool me with their friendly masks they put on. If I didn't hate you I merely tolerated you. There were only nine people I could tolerate: My mom, myself, and the band called Streetlight Manifesto. They were and still are my favorite band; they were the only human beings that didn't make me cringe. The music they played was incredible, mixing punk with Ska, I was hooked the moment I heard them. I bought all their albums up to that point; I bought a few posters, and wore a nice black and red hoodie with the band's logo on it. They even inspired me to pick up a guitar.

On my seventeenth birthday my mom bought me my dream, a Gibson ES-335 with a red satin finish, the same guitar the lead singer from Streetlight Manifesto, Tomas Kalnoky, had. It came with an amp, a guitar pick, an instructional DVD on how to play guitar, and a kiss on the cheek from my mom. For once in over a year I smiled, I had something to escape to whenever I felt down, which was all the time. I learned like a pro, mastering the basics in only a week. I soon did covers of my favorite SM songs which include, but aren't limited to: Here's to life, Riding the fourth wave, Would you be impressed, and The three of us. Every day after school I would fill the house with music from the band, and while I did screw up sometimes, my mom encouraged me.

Me and mom grew close after dad died. She had to quit her corporate job and took up a job as an accountant in my hometown of Juneau, Alaska. We'd sit down at the table and talk over dinner, we would watch movies together, and we somehow made up seventeen years of bonding in only one year. I was on top of the world, I impressed the ladies at school with my guitar skills, I was coming out of my shell, it looked like by depression was beat, but then came college.

After I graduated, and thanks to some recommendations from my high school teachers, I was able to get in to the University of Alaska Southeast, which was only twenty minutes from my house, so mom would visit often. I shared a dorm room with two other people: A guy named Kyle for whom I barely talked to, and Nick, the bassist in the cover band he founded called "Grip." The band mostly did covers of video games and some mid-nineties punk bands. He tried to get me to play rhythm guitar in his band, but I kindly refused, I was too messed up from the change of College. The work I was given made me feel like a fucking slave. I was only going there for my mandatory two years, but by God did they milk me for those two years. Paper after paper, project after project, I barely slept cause I had so much shit to do. All the stress of college, along with all the new and unfamiliar people brought back my depression full swing. I didn't really talk to my roommates, I didn't socialize at all, I only did three things: Eat, work on school shit, and play the guitar, and MAYBE get some sleep if I was lucky. I was back to the way I used to be; it seemed that nothing could bring me out of my depression this time, except a certain TV show involving ponies.

My reaction to the whole MLP: FIM craze was much like everyone else's, why the hell would grow MEN of all people like a stupid little girls' show? I wasn't one of those macho assholes who called the bronies fags or pussies, I just didn't understand why they liked the show, but I soon found out. It was winter of 2013, I had just finished my mid-term exams and had gotten my results. I nearly had a fucking heart attack at what I saw, most of my grades were either C'S, D'S, and I even had an F in calculus. I dropped the report card in shame, I was fucked. I knew I was going to get a stern talking to from my mom, my roommates would laugh at me, and my depression sunk even further. My depression made me irrational, I thought that no one would hire me for any job after this, and that I would live at my mom's house till I was in my forties, then when she would die I wouldn't be able to afford to live in the house, and I would end up dying as a homeless man, forgotten to the sands of time and to anyone that ever met me. I sunk to a new low, and was ready to off myself.

A week before he died, my dad gave me unique birthday present for my sixteenth birthday, a Tac Force TF-800 pocket knife. He told me to use in self defense, or to carve the initials of me and my lover into a tree. On the blade was engraved a message from my father that simply read "Prosper" and underneath that were the letters P.O.M.K, or property of Marcus Kelly. After he died, that knife became my most cherished item. I took it wherever I went, even though the campus had forbidden the carrying of knives or any sort of weapons. I remember holding that knife to my wrist, ready to end it all.

I decided that I would do it during the middle of the night when no one would suspect a thing. My roommates were away on some sort of trip for the culinary class they were taking so I was all alone. I remember sitting at the edge of my bed with my guitar against my chest. I didn't care if it woke everyone in the building up, I needed to sing a very fitting song called Point/counterpoint by Streetlight Manifesto

"_I've got a gun in my hand but that gun wont cock_

_My finger's on the trigger but that trigger seems locked_

_And I can't stop staring at the tick tock clock_

_And even if I could I would never wake up._

_With a vest on my chest, a bullet in my lung_

_I can't believe I'm dying with my song unsung._

_And if and when I die won't you bury me alone?_

'_Cause I'll never get to heaven if I'm singing this song."_

After I finished singing I put the guitar away and pulled out my knife. I sat on the edge of my bed, and wrote a suicide note.

"_Life is painful, death is painless. Life is meaningless; death is the only reason for living. I leave this world to save myself, to save you from me. I am a nuisance to the world. I pollute it, I'm hateful towards it, and others are intolerable on it. I want no funeral, I want no eulogy, I want only to be forgotten. – Marcus_

As I put the blade to my wrist I whispered apologies to my family.

"I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry dad, but I couldn't prosper." I was about to make the cut when I got a Facebook message on my laptop. Since I was going to die anyway I decided to view it, cause why not? It turns out my niece sent the message, she was one of the mere three people I had on my friends list, the others being mom and Nick.

**Amy Johnson – Omg! MTAF, Y'all need to watch MLP:FIM, it's so good!**

Now was my chance to see why the hell MLP: FIM was so fucking popular. I put the knife down and searched for MLP episodes. I came across the series premiere and decided to watch both parts. Then I decided to watch another episode, then another one, and another one, the next thing I knew I had watched all four seasons. I was tired, and thank God I was on Christmas break or else I wouldn't have been able to function. I fell asleep on the bed and woke up at about 2:00 P.M. I looked at the knife and note next to me and put them both in my desk. I was in love with that show. The characters were fleshed out, the plots were great for the most part, the animation was pretty, I simply loved it. I spent the rest of the day delving deep into MLP lore, discovering the older generations of MLP which made me cringe, and read a shit ton of fan fiction. I was happy again, a little girls' TV show just saved a 21 year old nobody from suicide, that's a sign of a good fucking show. To celebrate my new found happiness I decided to treat myself to a drink. Since I had recently turned 21 I still had a bottle of Vodka in the fridge. I took it out and poured myself a shot. I gulped down the shot; the burning feeling that went down my chest was worth it. I poured myself another shot, I could handle that. I repeated this until the room began to spin. I had never been drunk before, so this was new to me.

I nearly fell over numerous times trying to put the bottle back in the fridge. I stumbled over to my bed and lied down. I may have been drunk, but I was sober enough to know not to do anything. As I lay down I noticed a light coming from the closet. It was weird, because our closet didn't have a light in it. I got up and stumbled towards it. I opened it to find a void of light if that makes any sense. Nothing but white light filled the closet. Curious I decided to step inside, which was a bad mistake.

I fell through the light, I plummeted through nothing, and it was a scary feeling. I prayed to every god I could think of to come and save me, but nothing happened. I closed my eyes and waited for the worst. I felt like I passed through something, something wet because I was drenched in water. I opened my eyes to see that I was falling through the sky. Various clouds were floating in the air, I must have passed through one. I looked down to see a small town that I was on course to crash with. I closed my eyes and waited for my demise, until something caught me. I looked up to see a gray Pegasus holding my leg in her two hooves. Her eyes were lazy, her hair was yellow, it was good old Derpy Hooves. I was sure I had too much to drink, so I just went along with it. Derpy tried her best to hold me, but she lost her grip and dropped me. I screamed for about 200 feet until I collided with the ground. My bones cracked, my organs ruptured, I knew it hurt, but the alcohol numbed the pain. I couldn't breathe, I soon lost consciousness. Before I did I heard someone yell "Somepony help him!" So this is how I would die, good enough I suppose.


	2. Chapter 2

Friendship is a life saver ch 2

I was alone, I was in limbo. I couldn't see, touch, taste, smell, all I could do was listen. I could overhear voices all around, was I dead? Was I in purgatory?

_"Is-Is he going to be okay, doctor?" _A timid voice asked.

_"Don't worry Fluttershy, he will live. It's a good thing you brought him here, any second longer and he may well have passed."_ I guess not. Fluttershy? What the hell was that guy talking about? I must have been dreaming, there's no way a fictional Pegasus could have saved me from certain doom.

_"Oh doctor, he must be in so much pain."Fluttershy said, with sadness evident in her voice._

_"Not according to his blood test. This…thing, has a blood alcohol level of 0.25, don't worry, the alcohol has numbed all the pain." _I could hear Fluttershy give a sigh of relief.

_"H-how long will it take for him to get better?"_

_"Well, we sent a letter to Princess Celestia asking for an instant cure potion, but she has yet to respond. If we don't get that potion, he may never fully recover."_ There was a silence in the room for a minute. I heard trotting and the closing of a door. I heard a sigh and another sound of the door closing. I might never recover huh? We'll see about that.

I soon fell asleep, not knowing what else to do. I don't how long I slept, but it must have been a long time because when I woke up I was well rested, and had all my senses again. I slowly opened my eyes; the light above me blinded me. I wiped my eyes and stood up. I surveyed my surroundings; I was in a hospital room. There was a large cabinet for storing medicine, the room had a few chairs for waiting, and luckily I was not in a hospital gown. I looked down at my shirt and nearly cursed up a storm. My Streetlight Manifesto hoodie was torn to hell, that think cost me thirty-five goddamn dollars! I reframed from swearing and clamed myself. I decided to pick the newspaper on the stand next to the hospital bed. The title read "Weird creature falls out of sky" and the front cover had a black and white picture of me plummeting towards the ground. I looked through the rest of the newspaper, I was stunned. It was filled with stories involving all sorts of ponies, the author's of the articles had pony names, was I in Equestria? My thoughts were interrupted when the door was opened.

Coming into the room was a tall stallion with a green and white mane. He wore scrubs and was accompanied by nurse Redheart. I WAS in Equestria. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"So, what's my bill?" I asked, instigating the conversation.

"Your what?" The doctor asked with confusion.

"My bill. How much will it cost to get out of here, because I'm broke doc." The doctor laughed.

"Where would you get the idea that you had to pay for your medical treatment?"

"Where I come from, you have to pay to go to the doctors." The two ponies were taken aback.

"Well anyway, I have some paperwork for you to fill out sir." The doctor handed me, or in this case "hooved" me a clipboard with a bunch of medical and personal questions on it.

"I'll return once you've finished." The doctor announced as he and nurse Redheart exited the room.

"Let's see: Date of birth, January 9, 1993. Age, 21. Species, human…" I filled out the clipboard and waited for the doctor to come back. About five minutes later he did return, only this time he was by himself.

"So I guess Princess Celestia came through?" I asked rhetorically.

"How did you know that? Are you a physic?" The doctor asked fearfully.

"No no no, I wasn't COMPLETELY unconscious, so I overheard your conversation." I handed the doctor the clipboard and he read through it. When he got to the birthplace, place of residence section of the form he was stumped.

"I've been all around Equestria, and never in my life have I heard of this 'Juneau, Alaska' you speak of."

"Did I mention I'm not from around here?"

"What do you mean by 'here'?"

"I think this dimension, but I'm not sure." The doctor looked intrigued.

"Well, since you're, you might as well meet the good folk of Ponyville. I'll go get you chaperone." The doctor left the room; while he was away I decided to get out of bed and stretch my muscles. It was during my stretching when I realized how tall I was in this world. I was 5'11, and my head nearly hit the ceiling. Soon enough the doctor came back, along with Fluttershy, who trembled at the sight of me. The two finished some last minutes things and I was discharged from the hospital. Fluttershy and I walked through the hospital, where I got some strange looks. We exited the hospital and were greeted by the morning dawn of the sun, Celestia was hard at work. I couldn't help but bask in the heat of the morning. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't too cold either, it was perfect. On the horizon was Ponyville proper, the sun showcasing the beauty of the quaint little town. I looked next to me to see Fluttershy looking down, avoiding all contact with me. Doing the polite thing, I stopped walking and sat down on the ground to meet her level.

"Um, what are doing?" She asked timidly.

"I just want to talk on you level."

"Well, we could talk under that tree, if you want of course."

"Sure, I'm sure the shade will feel nice." The two of us trotted over to an apple on the side of the road and sat down, just basking in nice, peaceful morning.

"Hey, I never got your name." I lied, not wanting to reveal to her that she's just a cartoon back on earth.

"F-Fluttershy and you?" She asked.

"Marcus, Marcus Kelly." We both sat there for a moment before Fluttershy spoke again.

"So, where you from?" She asked, this time asking the question more confidently.

"Well, I come from a planet named Earth." I said, intriguing the pony.

"Wow, tell me more." I gave Fluttershy a crash course on Earth history, how it was formed and how humans came to be the most dominant race on the planet. Fluttershy was simply engrossed, she wanted to know more, but I got up from shade before she could ask any more questions. I really didn't want to tell her about the atrocities on Earth, she was too innocent for that. The two of us walked down the dirt road into Ponyville. It was even better than I imagined it. The buildings were stylish and colorful, the town residents were out doing their daily routines, and again I got some strange looks. Not looks of fear or hated, in fact I heard a few "Wow's" and "Look at that's," I was kind of enjoying the attention. Fluttershy led me through the town and over to her cottage. I had to duck in order to fit through the door, but that was alright, I could work with that. The cottage was built into a massive oak tree; the inside matched the wooden exterior as well. All the furniture was wood; Fluttershy had various decorations around the cottage, giving it a very relaxed feel.

"So, what do you think?" Fluttershy asked, pointing all around the room.

"I think its lovely Fluttershy." She blushed when I said that.

'Well, let me show you where you'll be sleeping." Fluttershy led me upstairs to a guest bedroom. It was decorated with various plants placed around the room. I was a bit disappointed to see the bed was too short for me, I would have to curl up to fit, but if that meant sleeping in the house of my favorite pony, I would do it any day.

"You want to meet my animals?" Fluttershy asked, now completely warmed up to me.

"Sure, I love animals." Fluttershy lead me back downstairs and into the living room where her animals were waiting. Along with her bunny Angel, there were a few beavers, mice, and a raccoon.

"How'd you come across all these animals?" I said, extending my hand towards them in a sign of friendliness. One of the raccoons nuzzled up against my hand, I guess he like me.

"All of these poor creatures were stranded, so I took them in." I couldn't help but smile, somepony like Fluttershy on Earth is too far and in-between.

"Do you want to go outside and meet my friends? You don't have to if you don't want to." A chance to meet the rest of the mane six? Sign me the fuck up!

"I'd love to." I said, trying to play it cool. Fluttershy said goodbye to her animal friends and we departed.

"Hey, is there a seamstress in town? I need to get my hoodie fixed."

"Actually, one of my friends is a seamstress down at the Carousel Boutique, her name's Rarity."

"Well let's go!" We made our way to Rarity's house and were greeted by the self-proclaimed fashonista.

"Um, Rarity, I'd hate to come in on such short notice, but I have a friend I want you to meet." Rarity turned around from her work station and smiled.

"You must be the poor dear that fell out of the sky, my name is Rarity." She extended her hoof for a hoofshake, I accepted. Rarity looked down at my hoodie; she eyed the giant tear in the middle that exposed my white undershirt.

"Oh dear, this will not work at all. Please follow me; I need to get your measurements and such." Before I went off with her Fluttershy informed me that she needed to buy groceries for her home, so she departed, leaving me with my least favorite pony. I didn't hate her, not at all, in fact I think she shines quite brightly in a few areas, it's just that she panders to little girls a bit too much for my liking; But if I was going to spend time with her, I might as well try to enjoy myself. We walked to the back of the store where Rarity kept her mannequins and finished dresses. She had me extend my arms and took my measurements.

"Such a gentlecolt, not even complaining like everyone else." Rarity smiled and concluded her measurements. She had me take of my Streetlight Manifesto hoodie and placed on her workbench.

"So, how much is this going to cost me?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Nothing of course. After everything you've been through, you need it."

"Well, thanks Rarity, I really appreciate that." Rarity moved up a few steps in my book of favorite ponies for that, I guess she's the element of generosity for a reason. It only took the fashonista a few minutes to sow up the hole in my hoodie.

"Say, who's this 'Streetlight Manifesto' on your hoodie?"

"Oh them? It's my most favorite band back home." Rarity was intrigued.

"What kind of music do they play?" The one thing about Streetlight Manifesto was that their genre was hard to pin-point. Most people say they're ska-punk, but the band said themselves they're more like hardcore jazz, it was confusing.

"They make music that's all their own." Was what I came up with. I grabbed my hoodie and but it back on.

"You did a great job Rarity." I complemented.

"Really? Such a shame that it couldn't be said for these atrocities next to me." Rarity sneered at all the dresses that filled the back room.

'What's wrong with them?" I asked

"Everything!" she yelled "I can't show up to Grand Galloping Gala in these, I'd get laughed off the streets!"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why do you care what people thing?" I asked intrigued as to what her answer may be.

"Because in this business, all that people do is judge. I can't tell you how many times I've been snubbed at parties because the number of stitches in my dress was uneven." Rarity grunted.

"Rarity, an old saying back where I come from is 'let the world judge.' I don't care what others think, or even what you think, these dresses are heavenly, and if anypony has a problem with that, they can go fuck themselves." Rarity smiled and gave me a hug. She squeezed hard, she was on the verge of tears.

"That was the nicest thing that anypony has ever said, thank you Marcus." I returned the hug, careful not to ruin her well-kept mane. We heard the front door open and we rushed to the front of the store. Fluttershy was back, hovering and carrying two bags of groceries. Being the 'gentlecolt' I was I grabbed the groceries so her hooves were free.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that." Fluttershy whispered.

"Nonsense, I'm more than willing to help." We said our goodbyes to Rarity and made our way back to Fluttershy's cottage. As I helped her put away the groceries my stomach grumbled.

"Man I'm hungry." I mumbled.

"If that's the case, I think you'll like my friend Pinkie Pie." Oh boy.


	3. Chapter 3

Friendship is a life saver ch 3

Pinkie Pie is definitely one of the craziest things to ever exist ever. She's so energetic, so happy, I was genuinely excited to meet her, but I was also a bit scared. Anyone who's seen Pinkie Pie knows damn well that she's more nuts than squirrel shit. I had no idea what I was in for, but if I knew Pinkie Pie, I would at least have fun. Me and Fluttershy finished putting away the groceries and headed out to Sugarcube Corner. I knew Pinkie Pie was going to throw me a welcome-to-Ponyville party, but I wasn't expecting what I saw that day.

I walked into Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy letting me first. The shop's lights were turned off, I knew it was coming; oh the suspense was killing me! Suddenly, all the lights turned on, confetti fell from the ceiling, and a giant cake sat in the middle of the room, it being surrounded by Pinkie Pie and the rest of the Mane six.

"Surprise!" Pinkie exclaimed. She ran up to me, jumped to my head, and put a party hat on my head.

"My name's Pinkie Pie, welcome to Ponyville Mister Marcus!" Pinkie pulled me over to the cake. It was as tall as I was; I was half expecting a stripper to pop out of it. It was white with green frosting that covered the edges. On the top it read "Welcome Marcus!" I felt great. I grabbed a paper plate and cut myself a slice. I sat down at one of the larger tables where the rest of the mane six was sitting. I took my seat, and I was face to face with my second favorite pony, Twilight Sparkle.

She was the smart one, the straight pony to an ever wackier world. I blushed a little bit when he had a hoofshake.

"Hello there, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

"My n-name is Marcus…" The ponies gave me some weird looks, but Pinkie Pie was able to break the ice.

"So, Marcus, do you like the cake?"

"Well, let's find out." I said, lifting the fork to my mouth. I took a bite from the chocolate cake, and my eyes widened. It felt like each one of my taste buds had an orgasm all at once. I didn't bother to answer the question, I was too busy eating. Pinkie Pie chuckled.

"I guess he likes it." I got to socializing with the rest of the mane six. Rarity bragged about how I was such a gentlecolt, Fluttershy also put in a few good words for me.

"So Marcus, what do you like to do?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I like to play the guitar, and I like to read."

"Marcus, either you're awesome or an egghead, you can't be both." Rainbow Dash Snickered.

"Why not?" I asked. The cyan colored pony pondered for a second, she knew I had stumped her.

"Just because." Was all she was able to respond with.

" What kind of books do you like to read."

"Mostly stuff about vampires, autobiographies, and some fan fiction.' I said, now more confident around the mane six.

"How are ya' with athletics?" Applejack asked.

"The only sport I really like is boxing." The ponies gave me some weird looks once more.

"What's boxing, is there really a sport about boxing boxes? That must be so boring!" Pinkie pie dismissed.

'Well, two opponents are placed in an elevated ring where they take turns beating the crap out of each other." The ponies, particularly Rarity, gasped.

"You're only allowed to hit with your fists, which is why I guess you've never heard of it." I continued.

"Can't the two just talk it over?" Fluttershy asked.

"They're not mad at each other, they're just doing it for wealth and respect, it's how we humans do things."

"Is your home always this violent?" Twilight asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." I slumped in my chair "My home is filled with anger, pettiness, greed, basically the exact opposite of Equestria. I could go on and on about my home, but I won't for your ponies' sake." An awkward silence filled the room, lasting for about fifteen seconds before Applejack broke the silence.

'So, you play guitar?" She asked.

"Yep, and I'm pretty good, not that I'm bragging."

'We'll see about that." Rainbow dash said. She dashed out the front door and came back exactly 22 seconds later with what looked like a black Fender Stratocaster guitar and an amp.

"Let's see you play!" She plugged the amp into the wall and handed me the guitar. I was a little small for me, but it would work. I got an evil smile on my face as I tuned the guitar.

"This is the guitar solo from a little song called Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne."

With lightning speed I preformed both the guitar solos in the song. The sounds of epic music filled the street, some ponies even gathered outside the shop to watch as my fingers moved effortlessly down the fret board. After about two minutes of shedding, all of the ponies' jaws were left open, including Rainbow Dash.

"Dude, you just became 20% more awesome."

"No need to tell me." I smiled and handed Rainbow Dash back the guitar.

"Say, how to ponies play guitar if you don't have fingers?" I asked, all the ponies shrugged. Oh cartoon logic, how I love thee.

"Wow, you're good enough to play at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Pinkie Pie said.

"That's not a bad idea actually." Twilight said.

"Well I'll think about it. Right now I need to get settled down and figure out a few things." Pinkie Pie shrugged her head and let out a disappointed "aw." An hour then passed and it was time for Pinkie Pie to get back to work. All of us said our goodbyes and left, but not before I took a to-go box filled to the brink with that delicious cake. Twilight suggested I go to her house and I took her up on the offer. She walked me towards Golden Oaks Library where she introduced me to her little helper Spike. It wasn't anything too spectacular, we just said "hey" and we were on our marry way. Twilight had me sit down on a couch in the middle of the rain room. In front of the couch was a coffee table with ink and a quill on it. Twilight placed a blank book on the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I can't pass up the opportunity to learn about an entirely new world, filled with entirely new creatures, let's get started." Twilight spent the better part of two hours asking me questions about Earth, asking about the culture and such. I told her how the Earth was formed, how humans came to be, and how humans became the dominant species. Twilight was simply engrossed in what I had to say. She soaked up the information like a sponge; her fascination with my world was second to none.

"Wait, so the sun and moon on your planet raise themselves?" Twilight asked. I told her how the Earth and moon revolved around the sun and how the Earth had a tilt. I was surprised I had kept all the information from elementary school. As I told her about my world she looked into my eyes, almost staring into my soul. She would snap out of it and get back to writing, but as it kept happening, I got more and more uncomfortable. I was able to get out of the awkward stares when Twilight asked about specific human events.

I slumped in the couch; I really didn't want to tell her about all the bad things that have happened on Earth, she didn't need to know. She noticed my hesitation.

"What's wrong Marcus?"

"*Sigh* Twilight, can I tell you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Please don't think of me differently after I tell you what I'm about to tell."

"Why would I see you as different?"

"Because the human race is fucked up beyond belief." Twilight was taken aback by my swearing, but she didn't say anything about it.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Genocide, slavery, greed, pettiness, and corruption, all of these things occur every day on Earth. There are people who will kill you because you have a different skin color, who will enslave you, who do what they please. I hate my planet Twilight; I hate it with every fiber of my being. I hate it so much I tried to kill myself, just to end the pain. There's so much tragedy in the world, and good things are too few and far between. Let me tell you how low the human race can sink." I went into a rant about the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, religion in general, the corruption in government; by the end of it Twilight's face was mortified. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I hadn't yelled like that in a while, I needed to relax.

"But surely not everyone is like that." Twilight objected.

"It's in human nature to be like that, it's just that some people are able to contain it." I put my hands over my face and sighed. Twilight saw my plight and sat next to me, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

"You poor thing." She said, trying to comfort me. I sat there for about ten minutes before I was able to compose myself again.

"Sorry about that rant…" I said, taking off my hoodie, all the yelling made me sweat.

"It's okay; I would react the same way if I were you." Twilight closed the book she was writing and gave it to Spike, ordering him to send it to Princess Celestia. Before she could do so I objected.

"Are you crazy?! If Princess Celestia reads about what humans have done, she'll see me as a threat and throw me in a dungeon!"

"She would never do such a thing, but okay, I won't show her the book out of respect, until you meet her."

"I beg your pardon?" I said, shocked by what she said.

"I'm going to send a message to her, asking if she would like to meet you."

"Fine, but before you do that, I want to do something first."

"What would that be?"

"I've only been in Ponyville for 1 ½ days, I should get myself situated and get to know the ponies here." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, thinking.

"That's not a bad idea, yeah, that'd be great." Twilight went over to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a map of Ponyville and the surrounding area.

"I've circled where all my friends live, if you want to hang out or maybe help them with something, you now know where to go."

"Thanks Twilight." I took the map and studied it intently. I looked through the window and saw the sun was setting.

"Well I got to go; it was nice talking to you Twilight."

"Same here, goodbye Marcus." As I left her home, I made my way towards Fluttershy's cottage and walked inside to find her cooking dinner.

"Oh Marcus, you're just in time for supper." Fluttershy lit up when I walked into the kitchen.

'What's for dinner?" I asked, intrigued as to what the smell in the kitchen was.

"We're having tomato soup with bread and celery." My mouth salivated, I hadn't had tomato soup in so long, I couldn't wait. I sat down at the table where Fluttershy served me and were various animals. She sat down and we began to eat.

"This is amazing Fluttershy!" I said, dipping the bread in the soup and taking a bite. The yellow Pegasus blushed and we continued eating. A short while later we finished up and I went upstairs to go to bed. Fluttershy, I guess out of habit, came up with and tucked me in. It was weird, but I appreciated it. It didn't take long for me fall asleep, and I was glad, I knew I'd need the energy for tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

Friendship is a life saver ch 4

I had the best night of sleep I've ever had that night. The bed was just soft enough, the blankets were just think enough, Fluttershy knew how to house keep. I still had to bend my legs a bit to sleep in the small bed, but I didn't mind that much. For once in my life I felt at peace with myself. No more bullshit college exams, no more tragedies, no more Earth. I woke up at around 7:00A.M, which is really early for me, but the good night's rest made me feel energetic and eager for the day to come. I put on my undershirt, not bothering with my hoodie or jeans. I made my way downstairs and walked into the kitchen where Fluttershy was making breakfast.

"Good morning Marcus, did you sleep well?" She asked, flipping the pancakes she was making.

"Fluttershy, I haven't had such good sleep like that in a very long time."

"I'm glad you slept well. Would you like some pancakes?"

"Sure." I sat down at the dinner table where Fluttershy handed me two large homemade buttermilk pancakes. I cut them into little pieces and began to eat. Just like the night before the food was beyond superb.

"Hey Fluttershy, have you ever thought about becoming a chef?" I asked, pouring more syrup on my pancakes.

"Oh no, I don't think I could handle cooking for so many ponies at one time."

"I will agree its hard work, but I'm sure you would great at it."

"Thank you." She giggled. After some small talk between the two of us I finished my plate and went back upstairs to get dressed.

"Hey Fluttershy!" I yelled from upstairs. The yellow Pegasus came flying up the stairs with worry in her eyes.

"Is-Is something wrong Marcus?"

"No no, I just wanted to know if you have a bathroom."

"Oh, well there's one downstairs, if you want to use it."

"Thanks. Sorry for yelling. That's just something I do when someone's, er, somepony's far away in the same house." I walked downstairs and found the bathroom Fluttershy was talking about. I went inside and undressed completely. As I did I looked through the mirror over the sink. I had a fairly long scar going down my left cheek, I guess it was from the crash I had. I had also grown a bit of stubble on my face; it made me look a lot my father. I sighed at the realization and turned on the shower. I was a bit too tall for the shower, but I needed a good wash. I waited until the water was hot and got in. I let out a big sigh of pleasure as the water drenched me; it felt like being at a spa, I needed this. I took the bottle of shampoo and used it, I hope Fluttershy didn't mind. It smelled like strawberries, but at least I didn't smell like a drunken dog anymore. I washed myself with the bar of soap and finished my little five minute shower. I dried and dressed myself again. I then walked into the living room where Fluttershy was feeding her many animals.

"Hey, I'm going out Fluttershy." I announced.

"Okay, have a good day Marcus." As I closed the door and walked outside I got a strange feeling in my chest again. I didn't know what it meant, but I had it every time I was around Fluttershy, I needed to find out. The sun felt great as it shined down on me. There was a light breeze in the air as well that made feel great. The Pegusi do a great job with the weather. I decided that the first pony for me to visit would be Applejack. I'm sure there was something on her farm I could help with, and besides, she seems like a good pony to be around, I've always liked no-nonsense girls. Following the map, I made my way to the family farm. I looked at the barn/house and I was a bit worried. The paint was old and chipped; the wood on the roof was weather-worn and looked like it would collapse at any second. I walked up to the door and knocked on it. The door was opened by Applejack's sister Applebloom. She looked up to me and cowered a bit. She barely reached my knees, I guess she felt intimidated. Noticing this, I got down on my knees to her level to make her feel more comfortable.

"Is Applejack here?" I asked in a very soft tone.

"She's out bucking the trees." The young filly said, warming up to me.

"Okay, do you guys need any help around here?"

"Hmm, Big Macintosh might need some. He's out back." I got back on my feet and made my around the barn to the back where Big Macintosh was working on the barn, trying to fix it up. The large stallion was on the roof and quickly noticed me.

"You must be Applejack's friend. What brings ya' here." He yelled down from roof.

"I thought you guys might need some help."

"Actually, if ya' be so kind to climb up the ladder and help he up here, that'd be great." I did as he asked and climbed to the roof. The large red stallion was working on the roof, replacing old planks with new ones. What I had to do was self-explanatory, pull the old decrepit planks of wood and replace them with the new ones next to us. I was able to replace half of them in only 20 minutes, Big Macintosh was presently surprised that we were able to finish in only an hour.

"We did a fine job didn't we?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yep." He was all he responded with. I climbed down the ladder and went around to the front of the barn. While resting in one of the chairs I saw Applejack coming up the dirt road with saddlebags filled to the brink with apples.

"Hey Sugarcube, what brings ya' by?"

"I helped Big Macintosh finish the roof." The cowgirl's eyes lit up.

"You mean the roof is finished already? Big Mac said it'd be another two days before the roof was finished. Thank ya' for helping Marcus.

"No problem, but I am kind of thirsty though."

"Well follow me then." After depositing her apples in a barrel, Applejack led me inside the barn. To my surprise it was more like a house on the inside, with a living room, kitchen, and everything. Applejack led me to the kitchen where she poured me a glass of apple cider.

"Here ya' go partner." She said, handing me the glass of cider. Took a sip, then another sip, in a flash I had drunk the entire thing. Applejack giggled.

"You must've been real thirsty."

"You have no idea." As were about to leave the front door flung open. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo came running through the door, bumping into me and knocking down to the ground. While I was on the ground I couldn't help but laugh, but this kind of scared the three fillies to the point of shaking.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! We're so sorry mister, please don't hurt us!" Sweetie Belle begged as the three embraced in a freighted and desperate hug. I laughed at her plea.

"Now why would I do something like that?" I asked, still sitting on the floor.

"I don't know, but you look like you would!"

"Listen girls, you should never judge anyone, or anypony, simply by looks." I said, making me feel like a wise old man.

"He's right girls." Scootaloo said, walking over to me and offered a hoof to pull me up. I grabbed it and pretended she was able to help me up. It made her feel high and mighty; I didn't want to ruin that.

"Thanks, I didn't quite get your names."

"Oh, I'm Scootaloo. These are my friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. We're the cutie mark crusaders."

"I'm Marcus." I could tell they were going to yell their little CMC chant they had, but Applejack interrupted thank God.

"I think some ponies have a mess to clean up." Applejack said, point to the pile of broken glass that used to be by drink. The three fillies sighed and cleaned up the mess in no time.

"Maybe cleaning the house will help ya' get your cutie marks." Applejack teased. The CMC cringed at the idea.

"Well, we got more cutie mark crusading to do, so see ya' later." Applebloom said, dragging her friends outside. Once the CMC were gone Applejack pulled me aside.

"Thanks for ya' help today Marcus, the Apple family really appreciates it." Applejack said, handing me a coin purse filled with bits. "There's today's pay, if you want to help out some, come by, we're more than willing to accept."

"Thanks Applejack." Me and her hugged for a bit before I departed back to Ponyville proper. By the look of the sun it was about noon and stomach demanded food. As I strolled through town wondering where to eat, I heard an explosion that came from Sugarcube Corner. Curious, I walked inside to see what happened. The shop was empty, so I called out to anypony.

"Hello?" I got no response. I looked over behind the counter and found frosting leaking out of the bottom of the kitchen door. I opened the door to find the entire kitchen was covered in cake mix and pink frosting, and a very worried Pinkie Pie.

"Oh no, oh no! If Mr. and Mrs. Cake see this they're going to give me…" Pinkie Pie stops for a moment for dramatic effect "A very stern talking too, we can't have that!" Pinkie Panicked to find a way to clean the kitchen up, until I made myself known.

"Need help Pinkie?" I chuckled.

"Oh Marcus, good thing you're here. I was baking sparkler cupcakes for somepony's birthday party, and I kind of forgot that I shouldn't light the sparklers and put them in the oven…" Pinkie dropped her head in embarrassment.

"Don't worry Pinkie, I'll help." The pink pony's face shot up with a smile.

"Let's go, we only have thirty minutes before Mr. and Mrs. Cake comes back!" Pinkie pie hand me a mop and we got to work. My hoodie got stained with frosting so much it looked like I tried to dye it pink. I tried licking the frosting off, but burnt frosting doesn't taste good apparently. After ten minutes of Pinkie defying the laws of physics by seeming teleporting all across the kitchen, we were finally able to clean the kitchen.

"Now we just need to bake the special cupcakes, again." Pinkie Pie handed me a list of ingredients she needed and told me where in the kitchen to find them. She also handed me a chef's hat for good fun. I got the muffin pan, cupcake liners, and the cake mix. I handed her the ingredients and Pinkie worked her magic. She put the unfinished cupcakes in the oven and we waited. Once the wait was up, Pinkie Pie pulled the cupcakes out of the oven and placed them on the table. She applied the pink frosting and offered me to put on and light the sparklers. I took her up on her offer and lit the sparklers. Pinkie Pie cheered as we finally finished the cupcakes, just in time too. We heard the store door open and it was none other than the Cake family. Me and Pinkie Pie ran up behind the counter with the cupcakes. The Cakes gave me some weird looks before Pinkie Pie introduced me.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is my friend Marcus, you know, the guy that fell through the sky and had to stay at the hospital."

"Oh yes, he was the talk of the shop." Mr. Cake commented.

"Nice to meet you two." I said "We finished the sparkler cupcakes."

"Oh, such a gentlecolt helping Pinkie Pie." Mrs. Cake said.

"Well I got to get going, thanks for letting me help Pinkie."

"No problem!" I returned the chef's hat and walked back to Twilight's house, I wondered if she had a spell to get cake stains out of clothes. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Spike.

"What happened to you?" The purple baby dragon asked.

"Pinkie Pie." Was all I said, he understood immediately. "Is Twilight here?"

"Uh yeah, come on in." I walked in to Twilight's home where I saw her working on something. She had a workbench in the middle of the room with a lab coat on, she looked really cute.

"Hey Twilight!" I announced.

"Oh hey Marcus…" She looked at my hoodie and knew exactly why I came.

"Hold still…" Her horn lit up with a magical aura and a beam of light engulfed me. Before I knew it, all the stains on my hoodie were gone.

"Thanks Twilight. Say, what are you working on?" I asked, walking up the workbench.

"Glad you asked. It's a wing suit I'm working on for you. That way, you can hang out with Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale. This thing will allow you do get the most out of your stay in Equestria." I walked up to Twilight, picked her up, and hugged her.

"You're too kind Twilight." When I heard she was having trouble breathing, I let her go.

"You're welcome Marcus." I thanked Twilight for everything and made my way back to Fluttershy's cottage. It seems like every time I walk into Fluttershy's home she's always cooking something.

"Good evening Fluttershy." I said, sitting down at the dinner table.

"Hey Marcus." Fluttershy's face lit up. "We're having spaghetti tonight."

"Wonderful." Fluttershy served both me and herself and sat down. As we ate I told her about the wing suit Twilight was making me.

"…so that means I'll be able to go to Cloudsdale."

"Cloudsdale is a beautiful city. There's this on spot on a cloud cliff that I would go to when I was filly, and watch the sunset. I bet that would a great place for the both of us to…" Fluttershy's eyes widened and she put her hoof against her mouth and blushed. It was at that moment I finally realized what that strange feeling in my chest was, it was love.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry…" Fluttershy whispered, too embarrassed to even look at me. I walked over to the cowering pony and lifted her head up with my hand.

"I'd love to go to the cliff with you Fluttershy." Her eyes widened.

"R-Really, d-does that mean you lo…" I kissed Fluttershy right on her lips.

"It's a date." I said as I helped Fluttershy back on her seat. She was still blushing, but she couldn't help but giggle. We enjoyed out meal together that night, we went on and on about how the culture of love in our two worlds. She was so interested in what I had to say, I was so interested in what she had to say, I loved her god dammit. We shared one last kiss before we went off to bed, where I was visited by a certain Alicorn princess of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Friendship is a life saver ch 5

I was in a void of darkness, yet I wasn't afraid. The void had a weird atmosphere of peace and tranquility. At the center of this whole thing was the moon raiser herself Princess Luna. I was taken aback; I had no idea what to say. I was in the presence of royalty, but thankfully she started the conversation.

"Well aren't you a true gentlecolt." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot. So you saw me and Fluttershy?"

"I looked in your past thoughts. That poor pony has been beaten down all her life, she deserves somepony like you. I'm sure you two will have a great time in Cloudsdale."

'Thank you princess, I was afraid that everypony would reject our relationship."

"That may be true on your world, but here, love truly has no boundaries."

"So is there any other reason you wanted to meet me like this?" I asked.

"Well, I wanted to know what you were like, your interests and such. My sister and I are curious." Luna's smile faded and turned to a frown. "I've seen what you've been through Marcus, you are one strong soul."

"I've been told that before as well. My coming here was the greatest thing to ever happen to me princess. You and your sister do a splendid job running your world; I just wish I could say the same for the people who run Earth."

"And before you say it, I don't see you differently because of your species."

"What do you mean by that?

"I saw that you were worried that you would be thrown in a dungeon or some nonsense, if we ever found out about the history of your kind. I think it's pretty silly honestly. There are always exceptions to any race and you are certainly one of them."

"Thank you princess."

"Please, call me Luna."

"Okay, Luna."

"Oh, and one more thing before I leave, me and my sister would appreciate it if you would drop by the palace soon, everypony's dying to meet you."

"I'll find time Luna, I'll find time." Luna said her goodbyes and left my dream. I then woke up, refreshed and eager for the day once more. As I got dressed a made up a plan for me, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash: I would have Rainbow tag along with me and Fluttershy on our little date. I walked downstairs where once again Fluttershy was making breakfast, this time it was waffles. Fluttershy stopped what she was doing to hug me as I entered the room.

"How was your sleep Markey." She asked, giving me a new nickname.

"I was visited by Princess Luna last night." Fluttershy gasped.

"Was everything okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry. It was all good." I sat at the dinner table where Fluttershy served me two giant waffles. This time she cut the waffles into little pieces to make a big smiley face. Fluttershy kissed my cheek and sat down.

"So, is Cloudsdale a cool place?" I asked, taking a bite of the waffle's eye.

"Oh yes. There are so many clubs, restaurants, and things that will keep anypony occupied. Not to mention the weather is always perfect. I can't wait to go there, it's been so long."

"I'm sure it'll be great." The two of us finished breakfast and made our way to Twilight's to see if the wing suit was ready. We knocked on the door which was answered by Spike. He let us in and we laid our eyes on the competed wing suit. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were standing behind it, staring at us much like us. The wing suit looked like a metal backpack with large black feathered wings sticking out of them. The wings were as big as I was; they dwarfed any other Pegasus wings I've ever seen.

"Oh Marcus, glad you came. Are you ready to test the wing suit?"

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed. Twilight instructed how to put the thing on, how to buckle myself in safely, shit like that. Once I was suited up the four us went outside for testing.

"Alright, the suit is laced with magic. All you have to do is think about flying, and the wings will carry you."

"Alright" I said, determined "Let's do this." I closed my eyes, and jumped in the air for a little boost. When I opened my eyes I was hovering about five feet off the ground.

"Okay, now try to move towards me." Twilight instructed. I thought about moving towards her, and I did.

"That's it, that's it, you're doing great!"Fluttershy said, giving words of encouragement. Rainbow Dash took over for Twilight and taught me all the really cool shit. She taught me how to fly backwards, how to loops in the air, and how to rest the wings once I landed on the ground.

"Wow, for somepony who can't even fly, you're pretty awesome at it." Rainbow Complemented. Me and her flew to the top of the library where we had a great view of Ponyville.

"I bet you I can fly to Sugarcube corner in one try." I bragged.

"Well let's see." Being way more experienced, Rainbow Dash took off towards the pastry shop. I followed suit. I jumped off the roof of the library and let my mind carry me. I was soaring through the air; the breeze that hit my face was so refreshing. Like I told Rainbow Dash, I landed on the roof of Sugarcube Corner without fail. While I was on the roof, I got a sinister little plan. I told Rainbow Dash to bring Pinkie Pie outside; I was going to scare the shit out of her. Rainbow Dash soon brought Pinkie Pie outside.

"So, whatcha want to show me Rainbow?"

"Just wait." Rainbow dash giggled. As Pinkie Pie stood under the doorway, as my legs hanged on to the gutter, I hung upside like a bat and said boo. Pinkie Pie shrieked and fell to the ground. Me and Rainbow laughed hysterically, even Pinkie decided to join in on the fun.

"How'd you get up there Marcus?" Pinkie asked, still giggling from my little prank. I dropped to the ground and extended my wings.

"Pretty cool huh?" I bragged. Pinkie was mesmerized by what she saw, she gawked at it and tried to touch it, but I didn't let her. It was at this time that Fluttershy and Twilight decided to show up.

"What took you slow pokes so long?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, Fluttershy told me about her special relationship." Twilight said, smiling towards me.

"Really now?" Rainbow said, impressed that such a timid pony such as Fluttershy was in a relationship "Who's the special somepony?"

"I think you mean special someone." Twilight said, pointing to me."

"Wow." Was all Rainbow could come up with.

"Yeah, me and her are going to Cloudsdale for a date, since you know the area, I was thinking you could tag along."

"Count me in! Oh man this is going to be so awesome!" Rainbow dash said, her voice cracking on the word awesome.

"Oh, before I forget…" Twilight pulled a potion out from the lab coat she was wearing "This will let you walk on the clouds in Cloudsdale." I thanked Twilight and gulped the bottle down, luckily it had no flavor. I said my goodbyes to Twilight and the three of us were off to Cloudsdale. It took us about five minutes to reach the literal cloud city, and boy was I surprised. I know Fluttershy told me the place was pretty, but it was downright gorgeous. The clouds, along with the rainbow waterfall and sky blue sky were simply breath taking. Rainbow Dash led us to her home, a giant cloud fortress that looked like a weirdly shaped tree.

"Welcome to casa de Rainbow!" Rainbow said, stretching her legs around, pointing to everything. All the furniture was made form clouds, the couch, the stairs, everything. Oddly enough, the physical items in the house didn't fall through the clouds, I just assumed it was more cartoon logic. Rainbow Dash led us to her bedroom. Wonderbolts posters were on the walls, she had pictures of herself and her friends all across the room, and in the corner was the black Stratocaster from a few days ago. After we got accustomed to her room, Rainbow led us to her bedroom window, which was just a hole in the wall. Rainbow Dash pointed to a cloud building that was suspended in mid air below us.

"That club down there's a great place for the three of us to hang out."

"Wait, isn't that place for… 'Mature' audiences." Fluttershy pointed out.

"Come on Fluttershy, a little joke here or there in good fun won't hurt anypony." Before Fluttershy could object, Rainbow dash flew out the "window" and made her way towards the club. Fluttershy sighed and we both followed. Outside the club was a bouncer, making sure no fillies or colts made their way into the adult's only club. The bouncer let all three us in, but I think the only reason he let me in was because he dwarfed me in size. We made our way into the dimly lit club. It was a bar/stage show. Ponies could sit at the bar, or sit at one of the many tables, and enjoy the various shows on offer. Rainbow Dash was kind enough to order me and Fluttershy a pint of apple cider on her. Me and Fluttershy took a seat near the back, I didn't want to attract too much attention, but it was too late. Every pony in the room glared at me, not sure what to think. They knew better not to make fun of me, since just one of my winds dwarfed their tiny bodies, that is, except for one pony.

After some scantily clad ponies served us our drinks a yellow coated Pegasus with a green mane walked on to the stage. Looking at the lemon/lime cutie mark on his back I guessed he was some sort of citrus enthusiast. It turned out he was a standup comedian, and not a very good one. He would let out a few horse related puns and the crows ate it up. These motherfuckers need to be introduced to George Carlin and Chris Rock ASAP. After some more stupid horse related puns he really got my blood boiling.

The pony finally decided to get a little dirty and did a bit that implied a blowjob.

"…she was in awe of it! She was shy too; too bad she was ugly like that broad back there." The cunt pointed over to Fluttershy, and the crowd laughed. Fluttershy blushed and hid under the table. I stood up to defend her honor.

"Come say that to her face you lemon scented pussy wipe!" I called out. The crowd gasped and turned towards the fuck on stage.

"How could have such low standards? Even for a creature as ugly as yourself."

"Says the guy coming from the species that eats out of fucking mangers!" The crowd gasped.

"You don't scare me buddy." I got up from the table and walked towards the stage, winds extended. The guy began to cower a bit, but stood is ground.

"Listen to me you shit eating, piss drinking, motherfucking motherfucker. Nopony talks bad about my girl, now I kindly suggest you either piss off or fuck off, preferably both in either order."

"Make me." I climbed up to the stage, grabbed a bottle that stood a bar stool on stage, and smashed against the stool, turning it into a cutting weapon.

"I'll ask again. Either get off stage, or you get this shoved up your ass you ass." The yellow pony sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but this isn't over." The pony then exited stage right. I got off the stage and told Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash we were leaving. We left the "fine" establishment soon afterwards.

"And I never finished my cider." Rainbow complained.

"T-T-that was brave of you Markey." Fluttershy whispered as we stood outside the club.

"Like I said, nopony makes gun of my girl, period."

"Markey? oh you two." Rainbow said, finding my nickname cute. The three of us spent the rest of the day hanging out at Rainbow Dash's house. After the altercation I wanted to keep a low profile. At Rainbow's house, we talked, ate some lunch, I even played a little guitar for them. As the sunset, I knew it was time. Rainbow let us go to the cliff on our own, she didn't want to spoil it for us. Fluttershy led me to the cloud cliff on the edge of town. The sight was amazing. The sunset was in clear view, no obstructions of any kind. Me and Fluttershy sat on the edge, our legs dangled off the cliffs.

"When you dragged me to the hospital the day I arrived, did you ever expect this to happen?"

"No, but I will say this, I always did think you were handsome." Fluttershy leaned on me, so I put my arm around her shoulder.

"You were pretty in my books as well." As the sun set over the horizon and the moon rose over us, me and Fluttershy took part in a very passionate kiss. After about a minute of non-stop-kissing we let go. We sat there for a good ten minutes before Fluttershy asked me a very important question.

"Markey, will you go to the Grand Galloping Gala with me?"

"Of course I will my little flutter butter." We kissed one more time before we decided to depart back to Ponyville. Once we arrived back at Fluttershy's cottage I went upstairs and undressed. I loved that wing suit like a child, but it felt good to not have it on anymore. As I undressed, Fluttershy walked up to the room.

"Is there something you need flutter butter?" I asked, taking off my pants.

"Well, since we're, you know, a thing now. I was thing we could…share a bed." My face lit up.

"I can make room." I slid to the other side of the bed and allowed Fluttershy to lie next to me. I pulled the cover over us and turned off the lamp next to me. Her body heat felt like being in a Jacuzzi, I basked myself in it. We soon fell, where I had the best dream in my entire life


	6. Chapter 6

Friendship is a life saver ch 6

The dream was so vivid; I could've sworn it was real. Me and Fluttershy were on the dance floor during the Grand Galloping Gala, slow dancing to generic romantic music in the background. I had to squat a little bit for Fluttershy to reach my hands, but that wasn't a big deal. We stared into each other's eyes, all the while unaware of anypony in the background; we were truly apart from the rest of the ponies. The music faded out and I found myself on the cliff from the day before. It was another beautiful sunset, only this time Rainbow Dash was out flying, leaving behind her a rainbow that made the mood even more enjoyable. I turned to Fluttershy, and dropped to my knees. I pulled out a small box, and inside was a Diamond ring. Fluttershy knew exactly what I was implying, so she hugged me, I took that as a yes. That's when I got the idea in my head, I would propose to Fluttershy during the Grand Galloping Gala. I know it's only been a few days since I arrived in Ponyville, but if she's willing to share a bed with me, why not? My dream sadly came to a close when my body decided to wake itself up.

I opened my eyes, and there my little flutter butter was, sleeping like an angel. I didn't dare move, I couldn't disturb her rest. I moved my eyes towards the window; it was still dark, probably around 5:00 in the morning. Since I always woke up at around 7:00, and Fluttershy was always awake before me, she should wake up at around 6:00; I don't think I could last that long without moving. I slowly turned on my back, hoping I wouldn't disturb the sleeping pony, I failed. Fluttershy turned over to me and opened her eyes.

"Did I wake you?" I whispered.

"Of course not silly, this is when I usually wake up." I guess my estimates were off. Fluttershy yawned and stretched, it was adorable. I got up from the bed and grabbed the towel next to the bed. I was planning to visit Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that day, so I needed to look presentable. Before I stepped into the shower, I noticed my beard was growing out of control. No man in the Kelly family will dare have a neck beard! I searched through the cabinets in the bathroom for a razor of some sort. I didn't find anything, I needed to head into town and see if they had any. I took my quick shower, and dried off. I walked back upstairs and began to dress myself. My clothes stank to high hell. I was used to wearing the same thing over and over, I had done it since I was a teenager, but I was about to meet royalty, I couldn't let them smell my B.O, that'd give off a bad first impression. I sucked it up and put on the dirty hoodie and undershirt. I decided that I would go to Rarity's; I had an idea for a new set of clothes. I walked downstairs and sat on the couch, planning out my day. Fluttershy was out in the backyard tending to her animals. Once everything opened, I would go out and see if there were any razors. Next, I would go to Rarity's to see if she could tailor me some new clothes. Then, I would go to Twilight's and asker to accompany me to Canterlot. Finally, I would come back to the cottage and ask Fluttershy if she would like to tag along with us, it seemed simple enough.

About an hour later Fluttershy finished feeding the animals and began to cook breakfast for the two of us. She told me we were having cinnamon oatmeal. I've never had oatmeal believe it or not, so this was the perfect time to experiment. I sat down at the dinner table where Fluttershy handed me a bowl filled with oatmeal. It smelled great, I just hoped it tasted as good, and it did. Besides the weird texture from the oats, it was rather enjoyable.

"Once again Fluttershy, your cooking is beyond heavenly." Fluttershy blushed.

"Oh Markey." I kissed her goodbye and headed out to the marketplace. Since I was in Ponyville the residents of the town really started to lighten up to me. As I walked towards the marketplace I got a few "hellos" and "sups" along the way. Eventually I made my way to one of the stands that sold hair accessories. I asked the stallion running the stand if he had any razors. He did so I paid for one. Now that I look back on it, I thought it would be more interesting. I was expecting the stallion behind the stand to ask me some questions, but I guess not. Next up was Rarity.

I walked through town again and ended up at the Carousel Boutique. I walked through the front door where Rarity greeted me.

"Oh hello there Marcus, what brings you by so early?" Rarity asked from behind the counter of her work place.

"Well, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have requested I go to Canterlot to meet them, so I wanted you to make me something more… 'Presentable.'

"Well you certainly have your priorities in the right place, what were you thinking about?"

"I want something formal, but not too formal, you know. You have some paper I can draw on?"

"Of course." Rarity handed me a piece of paper and a sketching pencil. I wasn't the best drawer out there, but I was able to get across what I wanted. I drew me with a gray suit, white dress shirt, and jeans with a belt. I had something like that back home.

"Hmm, yes, I think I can fashion up something like that."

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"I can have it ready by noon, although it will eat up into my schedule."

"How much will it cost?"

"For you? A special discount, I bet Fluttershy would love it too."

"Speaking of Fluttershy…" I walked to the door, shut it, and locked it.

"What are doing?" Rarity asked, confused.

"I'm going to propose to Fluttershy at the Grand Galloping Gala, I need something to propose with." Rarity's jaw dropped wide open.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so excited for you two! Just for you Marcus, I'll give you one of my most cherished items to propose with."

"Oh you don't need to do that…" Rarity cut me off

"It is my duty. Fluttershy deserves only the best, from the man who is the best." I blushed a little at the complement. Rarity went to her room and pulled out a small, but very precious red diamond ring.

"This is the most valuable jewel in my collection; I want you to have it." I took the ring and the box it came in and put in my hoodie pocket, then zipped it up for safety measures.

"Rarity, I'm forever in your debt." I said. Rarity grew a smirk on her face.

"Don't be surprised if I ask you to help around the store for no pay then."

I paid Rarity for the suit, using up the rest of the bits that Applejack paid me for my work on the farm. I said goodbye to Rarity and departed to Twilight's house. Once I arrived, I knocked on the door, only to have it open magically. I walked in to find Twilight running around the place in a panic. All the books in the library were thrown across the ground, it looked like they just had an Earthquake.

"Um, Twilight?"

"Can't talk, cleaning." Twilight picked up book after book and kept placing them in alphabetical order.

"Twilight, can't you just use your magic?" I asked, hoping to break the pony out of her trance. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, and face-hooved herself.

"Why I didn't I think of that before?" She asked herself. Twilight's horn illuminated and all the books levitated off the ground. The books placed themselves back on the shelves with no problem at all.

"What happened?" I asked, noticing a giant spot of ash around the potion-making area.

"Brewing gone bad." She answered. "So what brings you by"

"Well, the princesses invited me to Canterlot to meet them, and I need you as a chaperone."

"Okay, when are we leaving?"

"At around noon, does that work for your?"

"Sure, I'll see you then." I said goodbye and walked back to Fluttershy's cottage. It was around 8:00, so there was some time to spare. I walked through the door and sat on the couch, right next to little flutter butter.

"How was your day Markey?" Fluttershy asked, leaning on me.

"Since when was two hours considered a day?" I chuckled, running my fingers through Fluttershy's mane. Fluttershy shrugged and we cuddled some more. A few minutes later I asked Fluttershy to come with me to Canterlot.

"Hey Fluttershy, the princesses have invited me to Canterlot to mean them, you want to come?" Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"I'd love to, when are we leaving?"

"Whenever my suit is finished, I'm having Rarity make me one."

"Oh my, I bet you'll look so handsome in that." For once I was the one blushing.

"Well I have time to kill, want to go out flying with me?" Fluttershy nodded. I grabbed my wing suit and headed out with my flutter butter. We took to the skies over Ponyville, although Fluttershy did it reluctantly. Who would have known that a Pegasus of all ponies was afraid of heights? I told Fluttershy to not look down, and instead look at me for guidance. By now I knew where everything in Ponyville was, so after a couple hours of flying and water breaks I led Fluttershy over to the lake. It was around eleven-thirty, to we had time to sit down and relax. Around the lake, there were ponies sun-bathing, fillies swimming in the water and building sandcastles, everypony was having a great time. Me and Fluttershy sat on the edge of the water, looking at each other's reflections.

"I love the beard you're growing." Fluttershy said, stroking said beard. "It makes you even more handsome and strong."

"You should have seen my dad; his beard was so puffy it looked like someone glued a sheep to his chin." Fluttershy giggled, while I lost my smile.

"What's wrong Marcus?" She asked in a smooth motherly tone.

"Nothing, just remembering dad."

"Oh my, is he…?"

"Unfortunately, has been for quite some time now. It's okay, he lives on through me."

"That's…really profound Marcus." I nodded and looked up at the sun overhead, it looked around noon.

"Well I'm off to pick up my suit." I opened my wing suit and flew to Carousel Boutique. I walked in the door, and there it was, the suit I ordered, hanging from a rack.

"Hello you two." Rarity greeted."

"That's the suit right? Wow, Rarity you did an amazing job." I complemented. Rarity blushed and handed me the suit. While Fluttershy looked at the dresses on the display, I handed Rarity back the ring she gave me.

"I need you to safeguard this 'till the Grand Galloping Gala, okay?" I whispered. Understanding my wishes, Rarity took the ring and put it back in her collection. Me and Fluttershy departed back to her cottage, soon to be our cottage, where I could try on the suit. I undressed and put on the dress shirt, then the jeans, then the suit itself. I looked at myself in the mirror, I was impressed. If my mother was there she would have said I looked like a man, because I was. After showing the suit off to Fluttershy, we made our way to Twilight's, this time walking, even though I was carrying the wing suit. I was planning to bring it to the princesses, and see if maybe a pony version of it could be made. As me and Fluttershy made our way through town I got a few looks if impression from the town ponies. I felt like a true pimp, God I looked so handsome. We finally arrived at Twilight's house, where Twilight herself was waiting for us.

"Wow Marcus, Rarity did a good job didn't she?" Twilight asked rhetorically.

"No need to tell me that." I responded.

"Okay, I have all our train tickets, is everyone ready?" Me and Fluttershy nodded and the three of us made our way to the train station. We showed out tickets and got in the train. Twilight told me the trip would take at least an hour, so I had to find a way to waste an hour, on a train no less. I was never a fan of public transportation ever since my sophomore year of high school when we traveled to Washington D.C. I hated the metro there; it was dark, cramped, and dirty, honestly fuck that place. But at least the train I was on wasn't dirty. I sat next to Fluttershy, of course, who sat next to Twilight. The train was filled with an array of colorful ponies, unicorns, and even some Pegusi fillies who hadn't quite mastered the art of flying yet. Nothing interesting happened on the train, except the sights I saw out the windows. The mountains were tall and majestic as we rode up them. There was even a bit of snow. After the hour trip finally came to an end, we stepped off the train and stepped into Canterlot.

The city was beyond gorgeous. Marble buildings, gold on the streetlights, the whole place was decked out. The only thing that killed it for me was the literal asses on the streets. All of them were pompous, rich, looking-to-impress motherfuckers who looked down upon a "simpleton" such as me, even though I was taller than anypony that roamed the streets. The three of us, especially me, had to traverse through all the stares and convoluted street layout to get to the palace. We walked up the marble staircase and walked up to the entrance to the castle, which was guarded by nopony else but the royal guard. I finally found somepony in this fucking world that matched my height. Twilight showed the guards an invitation paper with all our names on it, and allowed us entry. Twilight guided us through the labyrinth of hallways and stairs before we finally reached the door to the throne room. The door was engraved with the cutie marks of both the princesses, and reached the ceiling. I adjusted my suit, took a deep breath, the Twilight opened the doors. We walked into a long and wide hallway, with stained glass windows on either side of the room, telling the history of Equestria. The room was decorated with tables and various other things for the Grand Galloping Gala. We walked through the maze of unorganized mess of chairs and tables and finally reached the feet of the thrones of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. All of bowed out of respect.

"There's no need for that here." Luna said, signaling us to stop.

"Apologies for the mess, my servants are rather unprepared." Celestia said. "So, you must be Marcus."

"Yes ma'am I am." I said, noticing that Celestia was the first creature I've encounter that was taller than me, by not my much, maybe an inch or so.

"My sister has told us so much about you; care to join us for lunch?"

"Of course." The princesses led the rest of us to the grand dining hall, which was also decorated for the Grand Galloping Gala. The sisters took their seats at the head of the table while the rest of us sat a couple chairs down. Luna noticed I put the compacted wing suit next to me as I sat down.

"Mr. Marcus, what is that strange device you have?" Luna asked, starting a conversation while our food was being prepared.

"Oh this?" I picked up the wing suit and placed it on the table "It's a wing suit; it lets me fly believe it or not." Celestia's eyes perked up at the explanation.

"Care to demonstrate?" Celestia asked, intrigued by the object.

"In here?" I asked.

"Sure, you have room." Celestia had a point. The dining hall was large enough to have its own postal code, so why not? I stood up, put the suit on, and retracted the large black wings. I jumped up in the air and started to hover.

"Pretty cool huh, I was thinking a pony version of this could be made or something." The princess didn't even respond they were so intrigued. Just then the waiters came out with the first course of our meal. As they place the food on the table they two stopped to glare at me.

"I'm coming down now; this thing is wrinkling my suit." I descended to the ground, took the wing suit off, and sat down at my seat.

"Anyway" Celestia said, taking a bite out of her salad " How would you describe yourself?" Celestia was making me feel like I was at a job interview.

"Well, before I came here, I was a socially reclusive misanthrope with suicidal tendencies." The princesses were a bit mortified by my answer.

"That's terrible!" Celestia exclaimed.

"But since my arrival in Equestria, I've turned into a perky fun-lover with a lover and a clear mind." Celestia sighed in relief.

"Who's your lover?" Celestia asked. In response, I wrapped my arm around Fluttershy who was sitting next to me. My little flutter butter blushed at the attention. Celestia couldn't help but smile.

"Truly, love has no bounds." She said.

"Try telling that to the people back home." I said bitterly, taking a sip of the apple cider I was served.

"What do you mean by that?" Luna asked.

"At least where I live, society teaches that only men and women, who are of the same race, color, and religion, are allowed to express true love. In some places, they kill you for loving the 'wrong' people, it's disgusting."

"They…They kill people? Over something as beautiful as love?" Celestia asked, once again mortified.

"And can you believe we're the smartest species on the planet back home?" I sighed and took a big chug from my apple cider. "You know there's a reason why I became a misanthrope."

"Surely not everypony, I mean everyone, is like that." Luna stated.

"You're right, but too many people are like that." There was an awkward silence for a few moments before we were served the main course, spaghetti with a side of breadsticks. All of us ate for a little bit before I started another conversation.

"We humans, along with my universe itself, are a very interesting. I'm sure your historians would have a field day researching it, Twilight sure did."

"Twilight, what's the most interesting you learned about his world?" Celestia asked Twilight.

"I would have to say, that no one raises the sun or moon when Marcus comes from." Luna literally spit out her spaghetti when Twilight said that. After she realized what she did, she blushed and a few servants came to clean the mess she made.

"But, how to they get raised then?" Luna asked, recomposing herself. Twilight went on to explain the sun and moon aren't raised, and how the moon revolves around the Earth, and how the Earth revolves around the sun. Once Twilight was done explaining, we were served our last course, dessert. All of us were given brownie alamode, with fudge syrup and whipped cream. I remember my mother used to make me one every time I got an A on a test, that woman knew how to motivate me. As we ate I saw that Fluttershy had a bit of whipped cream on her nose.

"Let me take care of that." Before Fluttershy could react I spooned the cream off her nose and ate it. Fluttershy blushed.

"Will you two be attending the Grand Galloping Gala together?" Luna asked

"Yes ma'am and I plan on making the best night of her life."

"Such is love." Luna sighed with a bit if envy.

"Say, will there be any musical performances at the Gala?" I asked.

"Yes there will be. Why'd you ask?" Celestia said.

"Well, I was just thinking, I want Equestria to get its first taste of human culture with some of its music."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I will make room for your performance, so you need any special requirements?"

"Yes" I said "all I need is my own acoustic guitar, a backing acoustic guitar player, and a drummer."

"That seems reasonable, I can't pass up the opportunity to hear another world's music; I'll find you what you need." Celestia declared.

"Thank you Princess." After lunch was over, Princess Celestia requested that I speak with her students about my home. She wanted me to explain Earth history, human and animal biology, and the universe as a whole. I started with the history students first since I knew the most about that. I told them the history of Earth, how humans came about, prominent figures, and human culture. The students soaked up the information like sponges, much like Twilight. Next up were the astronomy students. I knew less about astronomy and the universe as a whole, but I knew enough to give them a crash course in the subject. Finally…there were the biologists. On top of the fact I knew next to nothing about human biology, they wanted me to undress completely so they could sketch the human body from all angles. Thank Christ they had a spell that took x-rays and mapped out the inside of me, I was afraid they were going to cut me open. This whole thing took three hours, so I was relieved when it came to an end. We said our goodbyes to the princesses and made our way through the city and back on to the train.

The train ride back to Ponyville was interesting to say the least. Since we departed at 4:00PM, barely anypony was one the train, with the exception of a small Pegasus family. The father was a green coated with a white mane, and the mother was white coated with a red mane. The two parents also brought along two filly sisters. One had a white coat with green mane, while the other had a white coat with red mane, good thing they were color coded of else I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. The two were playing around, jumping and gliding and what not. Their parents asked them to stop nicely, but they didn't listen. The one with the green mane bet that she could fly to the end of the train car faster than her sister could. Her sister took her up on her offer. The two dashed to the end of the car in a tie. The readied themselves to dash back to the other end, and on the count of three, they did. But as they flew, the one with the green mane knocked her sister out of air, making her collide with my face. As the filly fell to the floor I covered my nose with my hands. I looked down to see it bleeding. The filly with the red mane stood up and cowered in fear.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I'm so sorry mister! I didn't mean to crash into you, my sister pushed me!" She exclaimed, being on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, don't worry, its fine." I said, holding back whelps of pain and slight anger.

"You two have really done it now!" The father exclaimed. The fillies hung their heads low as their father ordered them to sit in the back of the train car. The mother walked up to me to apologize.

"I'm so sorry mister. Don't worry; they'll get the punishment they deserve.

"That won't be necessary ma'am." I said, chuckling a bit. "Kids will be kids, I don't blame them for trying to entertain themselves on this boring train ride." I noticed the blood was starting to pool in the palm of my hand. "Does anyone have a napkin or something?"

"I'll help!" The filly with red mane said. She grabbed a first aid kit out of a duffle bag next to her and came to my literal aid. I noticed the red cross cutie mark on her flank, that explains the first aid kit. She gave me some wipes to clean the blood off my hands and inspected my nose. She placed a special nose band aid on my nose and stuck a wad of cotton ball up my right nostril to stop it from bleeding.

"Now, don't blow your nose for about three days." She said, handing me a lollipop. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thank you, um…"

"Ruby, Ruby Fly."

"Thanks Ruby, name's Marcus." Ruby's sister perked up at my name.

"Marcus? Aren't you Applebloom's friend?"

"Hush now Emerald." Her father said.

"Wait; let her talk for a minute." I said. "Yes I do happen to be Applebloom, why'd you bring it up?"

"Well, our school is having a "bring-a-friend-to-school-day,' and Applebloom has nopony to bring. She can't use her family or the rest of the CMC, because the rules are that it has to be somepony from outside of school."

"When is this?"

"A week from now."

"Don't worry, I'll tell Applebloom I'd me more than happy to come."

"So, is everyone friends now?" Twilight interjected.

"Yep." I said." Soon the train stopped and the Pegasus family left the train car. A few minutes later the train stopped in Ponyville and we departed. Me and Fluttershy said goodbye to Twilight as she trotted off home. I told Fluttershy I would meet her back at the cottage, I had to make a trip to Sweet Apple Acres. I put on my wing suit and flew over to Sweet Apple Acres in two minutes flat. The sun was setting, so I still had time. I landed in front of the tree house that the CMC made their headquarters. I could hear them chatting about tomorrow's plans to get their cutie marks. As I eavesdropped on them, I got an idea. I flew to one window of the tree house and made myself known.

"Hello there girls." The three collectively shit themselves, not really of course, but they were certainly startled by me.

"Did ya' have to do that Marcus?" Applebloom said, taking a deep breath. "How are ya' doing that anyway, and what happened to ya' face?"

"All of you come outside and find out!" The three climbed down from their little base of operations and were awe-struck by my wings.

"Oh come on!" Scootaloo exclaimed "You don't even have any real wings and you're flying before me!" I lowered myself to the ground and chuckled.

"Want a ride?" Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks.

"R-R-Really?" She asked, barely able to speak.

"Yeah, how you all like a piggy back ride? Only the piggy can fly." All three of them jumped up in the air with glee. The three of them got on my back and started to ascend.

"Hold on tight!" I yelled. I slowly circled over the barn. The three fillies at first screamed their little heads off, as none of them have ever flown before. But as I flew longer, they got used to it, and even started to enjoy it.

"I can't believe I'll be able to do this someday!" Scootaloo yelled.

"What happened to your nose?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Long story." I said, not wanting to talk about the incident. A few minutes went by and I decided it was time to descend. I lowered the four of us to the ground, the fillies giving out a collective "aw" as their fun ended.

"That. Was. So. Awesome!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah I know. Twilight made it for me so I could get around easier."

"But that don't explain why ya' came down here in the first place." Applebloom pointed out.

"Good thing you mentioned that Applebloom. I heard the school was having a 'bring-a-friend-to-school-day a week from now."

"Yeah, none of us have anypony to bring." Sweetie belle said. The three fillies hung their heads in disappointment.

"Well, maybe you don't need to bring a pony." The three looked up at me. "Want me to come?" The three yelled yes out loud and hugged me.

"Thank you thank you thank you Marcus!" Scootaloo said. All the commotion got the attention of the apple family, so Big Mac and Applejack came running out to see what was up.

"What in tarnation are you four up to?" Applejack asked.

"Sis, you should've seen it. Marcus flew us over the barn, it was amazing!" Applebloom said, breaking the group hug.

"What?" Big Mac asked, not sure what to say.

"It's true, watch." I said, extending my wings. As I began to hover, Applejack's mouth was gaping open. "Twilight made it for me."

"Well aren't you lucky. Alright girls, time for dinner.

"Yay!" The three exclaimed. As Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ran off into the barn, Applebloom thanked me for what I did today before she ran off. Once Applejack figured out that I was going with the CMC for their special day, she trotted up to me and gave me a hug.

"Rarity's right, ya' are a true gentlecolt." I said good bye to her and Big Mac before departing back to Fluttershy's cottage. As I walked in, the smell of mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy filled by one open nostril.

"Oh, just in time. Dinner's ready." Fluttershy announced. I sat down, she kissed by band aid, and handed me my plate of dinner. As we ate, I told Fluttershy what I did for the CMC.

"That was very sweet of you Markey." Fluttershy said.

"It was the least I could do; I'm always willing to help those little fillies." We finished our dinner and went to bed. Wings, a true love, and friends, I love this world.


	7. Chapter 7

Friendship is a life saver ch 7

**A/N - Here are the links to the songs in this chapter.**

** The man with the skeleton arms - watch?v=NRBigmP4Cm4**

**I've set sail - watch?v=zP4PViJ3iJw&list=PLPRwJZ-Qm8K596GlqntxaEp6T_VRmk6Yf&index=22**

Today was the big day, the day I would propose, the day of the Grand Galloping Gala. I've spent the last six days up to this point practicing with the band members Celestia assigned to me, working on the two songs I plan to perform. We met in a small pub deep in Ponyville so that Fluttershy wouldn't hear it. The two songs I planned to perform were "The man with the skeleton arms," more specifically the Toh Kay version. God I love that man like a second father, his music just makes my ears orgasm. The second song I planned to play, also a cover by Toh Kay, was for none other than my little flutter butter called "I've set sail." After the songs were finished I would pull Fluttershy on to the stage and propose on the spot. But before I did any of this, I had a little appointment with three specific fillies.

I was glad to find out that school started at 8:00, which was when I usually leave the cottage to do my daily routine. I decided that I would put on my regular suit, and wing suit, I wanted to impress. I had a lovely breakfast of both pancakes and waffles mixed with one another, why didn't anypony think of that before?

"Goodbye my little flutter butter, I'll see you tonight." I said, leaving the cottage. I opened my wing suit and flew over to the CMC headquarters where they told me to meet them. As I arrived, Scootaloo was zooming down the hill with her scooter. She was thrill seeker; it's no wonder why Rainbow Dash was her idol. She looked up at me as I flew over, causing her not to the see the apple tree that she crashed into. I chuckled and flew down to her aid. I held out a hand and she accepted my offer of help.

"Remember to always watch the road." I said, pulling Scootaloo up.

"Right, anyway." She said, trying to play off her embarrassing accident. We walked up to the hill where Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were laughing their asses off.

"It's not funny!" Scootaloo yelled. The laughing died down and we went over our game plan for the day.

"So, do you know what will happen at school?" I asked as I was unfamiliar how the Ponyville school system worked.

"Well, first Miss Cheerilee will have us introduce our friends. Then she'll go over some lessons with us, then she'll have the friends describe themselves and they'll maybe do something." Sweetie Belle explained.

"So, it's basically a human/pony show-and-tell then?"

"Yep." Applebloom said, copying her older brother's signature catchphrase. I told the CMC that I wanted to surprise the class with the wing suit, so we walked to the school, much to the CMC'S disappointment. We strolled over to the Ponyville Schoolhouse, where all the fillies and their friends were entering the schoolhouse. We walked in, and I sat at the back of the classroom with the rest of the guests. Some were foals like the rest of the class; some were older ponies, probably friends from out of town, or friends of older siblings. I got strange looks from everyone in the classroom, some didn't even pay attention to what the teacher was saying, they were too busy glaring at my irresistible handsomeness, I'm joking of course, or am I?

"Alright class, it's time to introduce everyone's friends." Miss Cheerilee said. All the students walked up to the front of the classroom and introduced their friends. With all the multicolored ponies, it looked like someone puked up skittles and the ponies were the result. It was my turn, so the CMC literally pulled me to the front of the class and introduced me.

"This is out friend Marcus." The CMC said in unison. I waved to the students, and the students were nice enough to wave back. The CMC and I sat back down, and then Miss Cheerilee explained the plan for the day. First up were the lessons in Equestrian history, Miss Cheerilee said that the students could get help from their friends they brought. The CMC were smart enough to know not to call on me, I knew jack shit about the subject. Luckily, Sweetie Belle was the only one who studied, so the rest of the CMC leeched off of her. After some boring learning, it was finally time for the guests to tell about themselves. Some went on longer than others, some were interesting, others not so much. When it was finally my turn I had the whole class paying attention for once.

"So, tell us about yourself Mr. Marcus."

"Gladly. As you all can probably tell, I'm not a pony. I'm what you would call a human. I'm quirky, I have a sense of humor, I hate ponies who don't flush public bathroom toilets, I'm an all around interesting man, as we say back home. Now, does anypony have any questions?" Literally everypony in the class raised their hooves, oh boy.

"Mister, where do you come from?" One of the foals asked.

"I come from a planet called Earth."

"What's it like there?" The same foal asked. I sighed.

"Bad." Was all I said. Another filly raised her hoof.

"Why is that mister?" she asked, her head turned slightly.

"Humans, with the exception of a very few people like myself, are horrible creatures. We kill, mame, pollute, and hate each other, and the world around us. Let me tell you a story." I explained to the class of the atrocities that the Nazi's committed. War, genocide, eugenics, the class was mortified, just any other pony I tell this event to.

"…that was only 70 years ago. Today, you have terrorists blowing themselves up in the name of their religion; mass scale pollution of the environment, the planet I come is a cruel and unforgiving place. I could go on, but I have something to show you guys." While the class was processing the horror I told them about, I went to the back of the classroom and grabbed my wing suit.

"What's that?" One of the foals asked.

"Glad you asked." I put on the wing suit. "I see there are a few Pegusi in the class today, raise your hoof if you can fly." None of the Pegusi raised their hand. I looked over to the CMC, they winked at me, knowing what I was about to do.

"Watch this." I retracted the wings and began to hover. Everypony in the classroom, much everypony else who has seen the wing suit in action, had their jaws open. I flew over the foals, and turned upside down in mid air.

"Who here wants a flying piggy back ride?" I asked. All the foals jumped up in excitement. Miss Cheerilee smiled and let the children have their fun. I gave everyone a ten second piggy back ride through the classroom; it was exhausting, but rewarding none the less. I had a smile on my face the whole time, I felt happy. I felt so good helping everypony realize just what great things life has to offer, I would have never thought this a short three weeks ago. At the end of it all I was staving, good thing there was lunch right afterwards. As we walked outside to lunch all the children kept asking me where I got the wings, how I learned to fly so fast, I told them that if you studied magic hard enough, they'd find out, I wanted to give them encouragement to pursue at life.

Behind the schoolhouse was this beautiful meadow, with lavish flowers sprouting up here and there. Next to the meadow was the school playground, it was the perfect atmosphere for little children or foals alike to frolic and play, to enjoy what the outside world had to offer. It was also the perfect place for lunch too. Miss Cheerilee said they had a cafeteria, but thought it best for the children to spend time with their friends in a quiet and peaceful environment, which I was as extremely profound. Miss Cheerilee was also kind enough to have our food brought out to us. Everypony sat in a big circle in the meadow, with the CMC sitting deciding to sit on my lap. Everypony was served a hay burger and fries, thanks to one of the guest friends who managed the Hay Burger in town. I was skeptical at first, I was about to eat deep fried hay in-between hamburger buns, but if living in America has thought me anything, it's that anything, no matter what it is, can be deep fried and still taste good. I was handed my lunch and took a bite of the hay burger, it wasn't half bad. Everyone looked at me, studying my reaction to the food. I guess since I was a different species they wanted to know if I could eat pony food. The CMC giggled as we ate.

"So you like it?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's not bad; I just wish it came with cheese." The CMC nodded in agreement. Once some of the foals were finished, Miss Cheerilee let them play in the playground. The students brought their younger friends to the playground, while me and the older ponies sat in the meadow and talked.

"It seems like the children have taken a liking to you Mr. Marcus." Miss Cheerilee said, sipping from her glass of iced tea.

"I've always been good with children; I find that we could learn a lot from children."

"What do mean by that?" She asked, intrigued

"If you listened to my monologue earlier, I said my world was filled with greed, corruption, and strife. I'm infuriated when it comes to adults, but with children, I can't stay mad at them. They're these little sponges, soaking up all the information around them. They can learn good and bad. But the most profound thing about children, regardless of species, is their innocence. I'm sure you've dealt with delinquent children in your career, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a teacher that would hold a grudge against a child, they're still learning, they make mistakes. But they can push through those mistakes, and learn from them, becoming a stronger person, or pony, from it. I just wish the adults back home knew that." The small group that sat around me was impressed by my interest in child behavior.

"Well Mr. Marcus, I've never fancied you an intellectual." Miss Cheerilee complemented.

"I'm by no means an intellectual Miss Cheerilee, it's just that when you're pushed to the breaking point, you grasp onto whatever little hope you can find, I've learned this first hand when I dealt with my suicide attempt." The group tiled their heads, not out of shock, but curiosity.

"Mr. Marcus, what is this 'suicide' that you speak of." I was dumbfounded; these ponies didn't know what suicide was.

"To put it bluntly miss, suicide is when you take your own life, you kill yourself, you end it all." The group gasped.

"How could somepony even think about something as morbid as that?" Miss Cheerilee exclaimed.

"Like I said earlier, my home is a cruel and unforgiving place, filled with cruel and unforgiving souls. When you're constantly surrounded by all the hate, it hurts you, and sometimes you want the pain to end, permanently." The group sat in silence for a minute, unable to say, or even comprehend what I had just said. Miss Cheerilee trotted up to me and gave me a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through something like that." She said on the verge of tears.

"It's okay Miss Cheerilee, I'm better now, thanks to ponies like you, who are able to sit and here the struggles of another. I wish humans could learn from such a compassionate species." Miss Cheerilee broke the hug and smiled.

"And to think that I was afraid of you not two weeks ago, you truly are a gentle giant." Miss Cheerilee looked up at the sun; it was time for the children to go back to the classroom. She rounded up the fillies and colts and led everypony back into the building. I took my seat at the back of the classroom, where the lessons of the day continued. When I told the children to pursue at life and you would unlock great knowledge, I guess they took it to heart. The concentrated on what Miss Cheerilee was teaching, I guess they saw me as a role model; I blushed in the corner because of that. Soon enough school ended, the foals were happy to go home and continue to hang out with their friends. I, however, had to say goodbye to the CMC, I had to prepare myself for that night. I put on my wing suit and flew home, or at least that's what I would be calling it very soon, hopefully. I walked inside and sat next to Fluttershy, who was taking a mid afternoon nap on the couch. I decided to lie down next to her, the day so far was exhausting, and I needed all the energy I could muster. I fell asleep and woke up about thirty minutes later when Fluttershy woke up. She opened her eyes at me and smiled.

"This is a pleasant surprise." She said in a tired voice.

"That's not the only pleasant surprise you'll be receiving today my little flutter butter."

"Oh, I love surprises." Fluttershy looked at the clock on the wall, it was 3:00 PM, it was time to get ready for the Gala. Fluttershy went out to pick up her dress from Rarity, while I prepared at the cottage. I ironed out my suit and jeans and hung them on the closet door. I went to the bathroom and tidied myself up. I trimmed my beard, gelled up my hair, brushed my teeth, etc. I went back to my room and dressed myself in the suit, I was looking great. Once I was done admiring myself in the bathroom mirror I heard Fluttershy walk in. She walked in with a beautiful green and pink dress. The sides bore her cutie mark, and her mane had extensions, she was simply gorgeous. I walked to the door and greeted her, making sure not mess up her dress or mane.

"S-So, how do I look?" She asked nervously.

"Like an angel." I responded. She smiled and kissed me on the cheek.

"Well we should get going; the train is leaving in thirty minutes."

"I'll meet you there; I have one last thing I need to do." We exited the cottage and I made my way to Rarity's place. I walked in to find Rarity in her Gala dress, looking in the mirror, and praising herself for what she had accomplished. It seemed the theme Rarity had done for the Gala was to make dresses that matched the coat and mane of the pony wearing it. She had on a large white dress with purple outlining, with her cutie mark adorning the sides. She looked at me and knew exactly why I was there. She handed me the box with the ring inside, and wished me good luck. I put the box in my pocket and buttoned it up; I had to keep it safe. I told Rarity I would meet her at the Gala. I made my to the train station as fast I could, and found Fluttershy waiting on the platform. Before we departed, we checked to make sure we had everything. We had the train tickets, the Gala tickets, I had the ring, it was time. We got on the train and departed to Canterlot. Everypony on the train was dressed in the best clothes they had, they all had looks of determination, this would be the best Gala this world has ever seen.

An hour later the train stopped in Canterlot. Knowing the area a little more, me and Fluttershy, along with about a hundred other ponies, made our way to the castle. At the entrance there was a royal guard/bouncer who took the tickets and let people through. Me and my little flutter butter had no problems getting through, which was a relief to both of us. There signs and velvet rope leading to the palace ball room, so it was impossible to get lost. We entered the ball room, and were stunned by what we saw. The room was lavishly decorated with marble and gold pillars, the tables were meticulously place so that nopony would have trouble walking through, the tables themselves were adorned with expensive looking cutlery, the princesses really went all out. One of the guards told us we had special seating as was requested by Princess Celestia. He escorted us to the front of the ball room near the stage, where stood a large round table, sitting all the mane six.

"There you two are." Twilight said greeting us. She wore a small thin purple and magenta dress, with her cutie mark on one side and a tiara on the other like the one she was wearing. Me and Fluttershy sat down at the table and talked with the rest of the mane six.

"Applejack? I almost didn't recognize you in that dress." I teased. She grunted and pulled her cowgirl hat over her eyes. Just then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked up on stage and grabbed the attention of everypony. Princess Luna walked up to the microphone on stage and greeted everypony.

"Welcome all to the Grand Galloping Gala. Me and sister insure that tonight will be a night filled with excitement and fun. In about thirty minutes a three course meal will be served. Once some time has passed, the dance floor will open to anypony that wants to dance. Finally, we will have the musical performances. I hope everypony had a great time tonight." Everyone cheered and clapped as both princesses left the stage. Me and the mane six talked some more before we were served out food. Everypony was served a bowl of salad and mozzarella sticks oddly enough. The mane six enjoyed the salads while I mainly ate the mozzarella sticks. Later, the main course was served. We were served fried hay with mashed potatoes, green peas, and all of it was covered in gravy. I guess fried hay was this world's version of meat.

"So Pinkie Pie, are you going to dance?" I asked, sparking up a conversation.

"You bet ya'. I've been practicing a new dance move that I'm keeping a secret until I show it off." Oh Pinkie and your quirky personality. About forty-five minutes later we were served dessert, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered in fudge, I guess Celestia like chocolate. We ate it and were delighted by the taste. I've never had better cake, with the exception of the welcome-to-Ponyville-cake I ate two weeks ago, nothing will ever compare it, ever. A few minutes later Celestia walked up on stage and said that the dance room was open. Immediately a flock of couples gathered to the dance floor and began to dance. Music started to play, which gave me an idea.. I looked over to Fluttershy and grabbed her hoof.

"Care to join me for a dance?" I asked, Fluttershy blushed.

"Oh, I'm not a very good dancer."

"Just let me do all the work." I led Fluttershy to the dance floor and I began to lead her in a slow dance. One of my biggest guilty pleasures as a kid was watching people dance, and was the time to put that to good use. The music changed to a very upbeat style, and I went with the flow. What I did next got the attention of the entire ball room. I grabbed Fluttershy's hood and spun her around. As she spun I told her to trust me and not do anything. I picked her threw her up in the air. Everypony looked at us, I was enjoying the attention. I caught Fluttershy and spun the both of us. Once our momentum died down I leaned and held Fluttershy so that she would be looking straight at me, holding both my hands. She was breathing heavily, with a visible blush on her face.

"That…was…awesome." She said softly with a grin on her face. The ponies that were watching gave us applause. Me and Fluttershy took a small bow and sat back down at our table. Any more of that and the both of us would vomit up our dinner. We took a minute to catch or breaths, the mane six were impressed.

"Where did you learn such complex dance moves Marcus?" Rarity asked.

"I used to watch people dance as a kid; I guess it rubbed off on me." We continued to chat until princess Luna walked up on the stage announced the the musical performances. This way my cue to make my way back stage. I said goodbye to everypony and made my way backstage where I met up with my backup singer/guitarist Fireplay. He had a light red coat and white mane with a musical note as a cutie mark. Next to him was Derpy, who was the drummer. I thought it was pretty weird that Derpy was my drummer, but when I heard her play, all skepticism was gone. We rehearsed a little as the other musical acts did their thing.

"I hope you and Fluttershy make it." Fireplay said, giving a hoof-five. Once the last musical piece was finished, all three of us prepared ourselves as we walked behind the curtains of the stage. Princess Celestia walked on stage and announced us.

"Our last performance is quite a special one. Our friend Marcus, along with his other accompanying performers, will be playing a couple songs from his home world. Here is Marcus, Fireplay, and Derpy!" The crowd cheered as we walked on stage. Derpy took her seat behind the drums, while me and Fireplay stood in front of the microphones on stage.

"Good evening everypony! Now before we begin, I want to point some things out so that nopony is confused. This is an arm." I said, pointing to my arm "And this is a hand" I said pointing to my hand "I say this becase the song we're about to play says those two words a lot. This song is called "The man with the skeleton arms, the Toh Kay version."

"_Wake up, Flanagan, the bartender's comin'  
He says there's someone here  
Who means to do us harm–  
Sound the alarm, it's the man with the skeleton arms_

Ten years ago on Hogsback Mountain  
The flames was roaring like a lion in a fountain  
The trees were burning, too many to count 'em  
And trapped in the middle  
With fire all around him, was a man…

_Flanagan and I was out camping that day  
We started our fire with turpentine and hay  
The wind was howlin' so I guess we should have known  
That the flames was gonna get blown across the land_

Two days later when the fire died out  
Flanagan and I went rootin' about  
For to find a little dinner of roasted critter,  
Blackened blackbird eggs and pine-cone fritters

_That was how we happened on the badly burned man  
He was yelpin' for help and so we each grabbed a hand  
Thinking we'd be heroes if we dragged him back home,  
We pulled, but pulled the flesh right offa the bone_

Now of all the mad people, that guy was the maddest  
He pulled a bone across his throat  
And pointed right at us  
Ten years on the lam from that skeletal man  
He's sworn his revenge, we've heard his sinister plan:

_He'll string us up by our hands and lift us over a vat  
And dip us up to our elbows in boiling fat  
It's like an eye for an eye, but ninety-nine times worse  
He wants to do to us what we did to him,  
Except in reverse…_"

Everypony cheered like crazy, I felt like a rock star. I looked over to Derpy and Fireplay. Derpy was waving to the crowd, while Fireplay took a sip of water from a glass on stage.

"The next song is dedicated to a special somepony in the audience." I winked to Fluttershy, she blushed again. "This one's called 'I've set sail, also by Toh Kay.'"

"_It's soon but I've set sail again  
The wind feels right this time  
The waves are small  
But they rock my boat  
Just enough  
It's soon but I've set sail again_

I've put my trust in the constellations  
The pinholes of hope  
That steer my boat  
I've put my heart in the hands  
Of the man in the moon  
It's soon but I've set sail again

And If you get seasick  
I'll drop anchor and hold you close  
And if you get sunstroke  
I'll let you sit in the hull of my boat

It's soon but I've set sail again  
The moon feels right this time  
It's big and it's bright  
And it's in line  
With the stars  
It's soon but I've set sail again  
It's soon but I've set sail again

And If you get seasick  
I'll drop anchor and hold you close  
And if you get sunstroke  
I'll let you sit in the hull of my boat"

As the crowd cheered I signaled to Fluttershy to walk on stage. She was hesitant at first, but with the help of the rest of the mane six, she made her way on the stage.

"W-W-Was that for me?" She asked, turning her head away from all the staring eyes. I got down on my knees and turned Fluttershy's head to face me.

"Yes it was Fluttershy. I have a question to ask you" I grabbed the box out of my suit pocket and opened it, revealing the ring "Will you marry me?" She gasped and put her hooves against her mouth. Her eyes began to water and she face was at its reddest that I've ever seen. She grasped on to me, clutching the ring in her hoof.

"YES! YES! YES!" She yelled, breaking into tears. The crowd cheered once more. I looked over to the mane six; all of them except Rarity were completely shocked. I wiped the tears off Fluttershy's face escorted her to the table, leaving Fireplay to clean up the stage. As I walked off he winked to me, wishing me good luck. We sat back down at the table, Fluttershy never letting go of my arm.

"Well I'll be Sugarcube" Applejack, still stunned "When's the weddin'?"

"I don't know, for now, let's just celebrate." As the Gala came to a close, everypony left except us, the princesses held us back. The two sisters came up to the table as the final ponies left.

"We're so happy for you two!" Luna said

"We can't wait for the wedding." Celestia said.

'Wait, you guys want to attend the wedding?" I asked, dazed.

"Of course, you could have it here if you want." Celestia offered.

"It's tempting, but I have another place in mind. Thank you both for having us."

"No, thank you" Luna said "For bring such joyful music and feelings to us tonight." Me and Fluttershy said goodbye to everypony and departed to the train station, but we weren't alone. Pinkie Pie followed us, yammering on about how she wanted to bake the wedding cake, plan the wedding; she was more excited than we were. We said goodbye to Pinkie Pie as we got on the train. On the train, Fluttershy finally spoke for the first time since the Gala.

"Never leave me." She said as she dozed off into sleep. The ride back to Ponyville, or should I say home, was long and boring. Fluttershy had the right idea about sleeping. When the train finally stopped, Fluttershy was still sleeping. The poor thing got the shock of her life, she must have been exhausted. I picked up Fluttershy and carried her home. When we walked, I walked to Fluttershy's room and placed her down. I got undressed and joined her in bed. She was my fiancée now, soon to be wife, and I wouldn't have it any other way.


	8. Chapter 8

Friendship is a life saver ch 8

**(One month later)**

There comes a time in every man's life when his luck simply runs out. I should have known that my time in Equestria was numbered, why didn't I see that?! I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to calm down. It all started a month after me and Fluttershy got engaged. We were sitting on the couch in the living room of our cottage, when Fluttershy told me to go and check on the mail, if I wanted to of course. I gladly accepted and walked down the hill to the mail box. I said hi to the mailmare, then grabbed our mail. I brought the mail in the cottage and sat next to Fluttershy.

"Junk mail, coupons, a letter from a friend, wait a minute!" I threw the rest of the mail aside and focused on a single envelope that had "from a friend" on the cover. I opened it to find a disturbing message that I read aloud.

"_Come to the entrance of the Everfree forest, alone. You have three days to come, or I'll come to you. Signed, a friend." _Fluttershy put both her hooves against her mouth in fear.

"Markey, what's going on?" She asked, holding on to my arm "Please don't go! You might get hurt!" I pulled Fluttershy closer to me and stroked her mane.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I have a plan. Let's go to Twilight's." I grabbed my wing suit and the letter and we flew over to Twilight's house. I franticly knocked on the door, this time Twilight herself answered the door.

"Oh hey Marcus, what's…?"

"We have a problem." I said interrupting Twilight's greeting. I sat down on the couch in the library, with Fluttershy taking a seat next to me.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, worried for the both of us.

"I got a strange letter in the mail, telling me to go to the Everfree forest, alone." I gave Twilight the letter so she could read it.

"Hmm, well you can't just go into the Everfree forest alone and unarmed. Let me cook something up real quick." Twilight went to her brewing station and five minutes later came back with a few potions.

"Okay, I have a few potions that will help in case things get rough." Twilight told me her plan. She was going to gather up the rest of the mane six, and give some powerful potions that will increase my resistance to magic and increase my strength, I felt like an RPG character drinking them all. Fluttershy at first didn't agree to go with us, but when I told her to just stay behind me, she warmed up to the idea and decided to come. We spent an hour rounding up the mane six. Once we had everypony, we made our way to the Everfree forest. I stood at the entrance, while the rest hid behind trees and bushes.

"Alright asshole, I'm here, just like you said. Now show yourself!" I yelled into the forest.

"Now that's no way to talk to the lord of chaos now is it." I jumped in freight and tuned around to find the lord of chaos himself standing right behind me. The Draconequus stood a foot taller than me, with a large smirk on his face.

"I'm gone for only a month to visit some friends to find the creature I summoned into this land has stolen my girl." He sighed while my eyes widened.

"I can see your quite confused, it's quite simple really." Discord conjured up a chalkboard and explained himself.

"You see, when I was hanging around with my dear old friends, they bet I couldn't bring a creature from another dimension into Equestria" Discord drew a picture of some dragons and himself sitting around a table "I told them I could, I am the master of chaos after all. So I closed my eyes, and picked a random universe and a random creature, you just happen to be the result. I'm sure you're very homesick, so I'll send you back know." Before I could respond I was trapped in a white aura of magic. I heard the mane six run out of the bushes and yell at Discord, telling him to release me.

"I'm sorry Discord, but you and me were just friends." Fluttershy admitted. Discord laughed and told her she was brainwashed. I began to fade; my eyes were taken over by whiteness.

"Markey!" Fluttershy yelled.

**(Third Person)**

"I'm coming Markey!" Fluttershy jumped into the portal after Marcus.

"Fluttershy wait!" Discord yelled, but it was too late. The area around the Everfree Marcus was engulfed in an explosion of white light. One could be mistaken for thinking an atom bomb had gone off. Once the light had gone away, to everypony's shock, including Discord, Marcus and Fluttershy had disappeared.

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, smoke coming out her ears. "Do you have any idea what you just did?!"

"Yes, it would appear I have sent this Marcus fellow and Fluttershy to that creature' home world…what?" The mane six, or five at this point, stared at Discord with complete fury. Twilight conjured up the book of Earth history she wrote when Marcus arrived in Ponyville and gave it to Discord. Discord flipped through the pages, when he was done, his face was mortified.

"Oh dear, this can't be good at all."


	9. UPDATE

**A/N - ITS DONE! All the chapters have been updated with re-written versions. I'll use this update to explain a few things. The re-written chapters include:**

**New plot**

**more fleshed out characters**

**longer chapters**

**removal of stupid plot points**

**Improved****grammar**

**these chapters were written in Microsoft word instead of Apache office **

**Now I'll answer a few questions**

**Q - Why did you re-write the entire story?**

**A - Because i wasn't satisfied with the finished product. i have a tendency to rush out my stories, and i must certainly did with this one. I felt the story was rushed, sloppy, had incredibly poor pacing, I needed to take time to write the story i intended to write in the first place.**

**Q - But what if i like the old version better?**

**A - If you do, than you have poor tastes. But in all seriousness, if so many people ask for the old version, which i hope does not happen, I'll think about uploading the old chapters, please don't make me do that. This is the longest story I've ever written, and i don't wanted it tainted by the old and unfinished version.**

**Q - So, no sequel?**

**A - Don't worry, I will update the story with brand new chapters, but not nearly as frequently as i used to. Maybe I'll upload twice a meek, i don't know, I'll figure something out. **

**Q - What took you so long?**

**A - You can blame school for that. That was one of the main reasons the story was rushed in the first place. I tried to finish a chapter every night after school, I just can't do that anymore. Also, i wanted to pace myself, I wanted this story to come out the way i wanted, and if that meant taking a week to fix it, so be it.**

**Thank you all who have followed and Favorited. I hope you find the new version of this story much better. And to those just joining us, don't worry about the old version, its lost to the sands of time now. Thank you all again - Goateeman **


	10. Chapter 9

Friendship is a life saver ch 9

I was in the same void of light, the same light I fell through the day I got to Equestria, only I was going the other way, I was falling upside down. My body forced itself against gravity as I traveled through dimensions, it felt unnatural and alarming. I was heading back to Earth, the place that had caused me so much trouble for so long, I would be stuck there. I let a tear escape my eye, I couldn't bare it. I'd rather do anything, even fucking die than go back to Earth! Discord was going to pay for this, somehow! All of a sudden, the backwards falling ceased, and everything went black. I was still conscious; I just didn't know where the hell I was. From what I could feel, it felt like a room, only my feet touched the other side of the wall. I felt around, only to feel more walls, I was in a closet. As my eyes adjusted I saw the clothes that hung over my head, I was in a closet alright. As I sat there, thinking of a game plan, then I felt something move. I flinched away from it instinctively, what was it?

"W-Where am I?" A small and timid voice asked, a bit freighted by the small area.

"F-Fluttershy, is that you?" I called out. I felt a warm pair of hooves wrap around my chest, it was my little flutter butter.

"Markey! It worked!" She exclaimed, squeezing me tighter and tighter. I couldn't do anything else but return the hug.

"Fluttershy, how did you get here? Why are you here?" I asked, worried for her. If this world found out about her…NO! I wouldn't let that happen.

"I couldn't be without you." Was all she responded with. We sat there in the darkness for a good ten minutes, embracing each other in silence, the only noise being sniffling from Fluttershy holding back her tears. After ten minutes, I finally stood up, breaking the hug. I pushed the clothes out of the way and felt my way to the door. I felt the doorknob, this was it, I would lay my eyes on my home for the first time in…No, this wasn't my home, not anymore. I don't belong here, I belong in Equestria, this place will never again be my home. I slowly opened the closet door, and was welcomed with more darkness. Luckily, the room was dimly lit from the moonlight outside. I was back in my college dorm room, only it's charged quite a bit. There was only a single bed, instead of the bunk me and Nick shared, there was a bigger TV suspended over the wall, and all my stuff was gone. My desk, bed, guitar, and even my wardrobe inside the closet were all gone. I decided I should look around for clues. I walked over to Nick's desk and opened it. He was never the cleanest man in the world, so I had to search through all the pieces of scrap paper and pens to find something interesting. Once all the trash was out of the way, I saw a three page report sitting at the bottom of the desk. I picked it up; it stood out like a sore thumb, it being the only thing in the desk that wasn't crumbled or torn. The paper was entitled "The effects of suicide on others," that was pretty morbid, even for a guy like Nick who sang about killing people like crazy republicans, crazy liberals, and zealots for the fun of it. I read through the paper, I may have well been reading my own obituary.

The paper talked about me, and how my apparent suicide has caused great damage to those that were close to me. The paper was an anti-suicide paper, but I wasn't dead. I put the paper back in the desk and remembered the suicide note, I never threw it away! I just put it in my desk, what the hell was I thinking?! I guess someone came across it after I disappeared, and they assumed I ran off and killed myself. I sat down in the desk chair and put my hands against my face, how the hell was I going to get out of this one. I heard the gentle flapping of wings behind and felt a hoof on my shoulder.

"What's wrong Markey?" Fluttershy asked in a soft, almost motherly tone.

"A lot of things Fluttershy, I just need to…I just need to think." I got up from the chair and sat on the couch adjacent to the desk. Fluttershy took a seat next to me and leaned on me, all the while observing all the new things around her. She was mesmerized by her surroundings; all the pieces of technology fascinated her.

"Twilight told me about stuff like this; it's even cooler in person." She said, her eyes focused on the TV. She got up from the couch and walked over to the 45 inch LCD screen in front of her. I let her explore, her curiosity reminded of a small child, and their innocence. If Fluttershy were to fuck up and break the TV, I would laugh, not be mad, because she was just curious, plus it's a law of the universe that you don't yell at Fluttershy, it's just not cool. Fluttershy pushed a small silver button on the side of the TV and turned it on. The TV turned to the history channel, oh God. She just stared at the moving pictures, ignoring the words.

"How do they do this?" She asked herself, glued to the screen.

"Don't look too close at the screen Fluttershy; it'll hurt your eyes." She blushed and sat back on the couch. For about twenty minutes while I thought of plan, she asked me what all the things in the room like computer, the posters, she was so fascinated. My back was getting uncomfortable from the wing suit, wait, I still have the wing suit! That gave me a new idea. I grabbed the remote next to me and turned off the TV, startling Fluttershy.

"H-How did you do that? She asked.

"I'll tell you later, right now we need to…" I froze in my place when I heard the door start to open. With lightning speed I signaled Fluttershy to hide in the closet. She dashed over to the closet and hid inside, leaving me to confront whoever came through the door. It turned out to be none other than Nick. He was a very thin man, with clean cut blonde hair and light stubble. He was wearing his band's t-shirt, a picture of a black hand holding an AK-47 in a red background. He was on his cell phone, talking to one of his band mates, when he saw me.

"I know you have a project due, but we're playing the venue if you…" Once Nick turned on the light he saw me sitting on the couch, and dropped his phone. He just stared at me, not sure rather to talk to me, piss his pants, or both.

"Y-You ain't a ghost is ya'?" Nick said in his deep southern accent. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's been a while hasn't it friend?" I asked rhetorically. He slowly walked up to and poked me to make sure I was real. His face lit up and he hugged me, and then lifted me off the ground.

"Okay…that's enough now nicky boy…" He let me down and went back to the door to close it.

"What the hell happened to ya' man? You got a beard, a kickass scar down ya' cheek and what's that thing on ya back?"

"I'll answer the last question first." I walked up to the window, opened it, and climbed out.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, come on man, don't kill ya' self again, ya' just got here!" I was on the fourth story, and it was night time, I think I was safe. I smiled at Nick before I let myself drop. Nick rushed over to the window, only to gasp when he saw the large wings that sprouted from my wing suit.

"Pretty cool huh?" I said, hovering in front of the window.

"Okay, so in the span of five minutes, I learn my friend ain't dead, he's changed a lot, and he looks like one of Satan's minions with them black angel wings, I need a beer." Nick walked away from the window and I let myself back in, retracting my wings. Nick went over to the mini fridge next to his desk and pulled out two cans of Bud Light. We sat down and he handed me my beer.

"Since when do let beer on campus?" I asked.

"Never." Nick chuckled "So do ya' mind me askin' just what the hell happened over the past month and a half?" I cracked open my can and took a sip.

"It's a long story you won't believe, you know that show My Little Pony?" I went on to tell my redneck friend about my experience in Equestria. I told him about how it was basically heaven and I underwent a personality change while there. At the end he didn't know if he believed me or not.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Ya' went through some time vortex or some shit, ya' meet talking ponies from a TV show, and because of that ya' ain't depressed no more."

"Pretty much yeah." I responded, taking another sip from my can.

"Do ya' have any proof besides them fallen angel wings?"

"Yeah, but if I show you, you must promise not to tell anyone about it, or else the fucking world may implode on itself from shock. Got it?" Nick sighed.

"Alright, lay it on me." I walked over to the closet and opened it, revealing Fluttershy to my redneck friend. Nick's eyes widened and he nearly choked on his drink.

"Fluttershy, this is Nick. Nick, this is Fluttershy, my fiancé." Nick laughed hysterically.

"Okay. Wings, a beard, and a fuckin' pony as a wife. Alright, I'll go with it." Nick said, giving up on making any logic out of the situation. I nudged Fluttershy over to Nick; I wanted them to be introduced properly.

"I-I'm Fluttershy." The yellow Pegasus said almost inaudibly.

"The name's Nick, my full name being Nickolas Wakefield, it's a…Honor I guess to meet ya.'" Nick extended his hand for a handshake. Fluttershy reluctantly agreed and they shook.

"So Marcus, now that ya' back, what are ya' going to do now?" Nick asked, throwing her empty can in the garbage can from across the room.

"Get back to Equestria." Nick's face went sour when I said that.

"What do ya' mean? You have so much here, why go back?" Nick asked ignorantly.

"Do I really Nick? Look at me, I've matured as a person, I know that I'm not meant for here anymore. I may have a few friends like you, but that's it. I have a wedding to plan, I have princess and work that needs done in Equestria."

"And how exactly do ya' plan to get back?" That redneck son of a bitch stumped me.

"I don't know, I'm still thinking."

"Well as long as ya' here, ya' might as well make the best of it. Come to a Grip concert, show ya' lover over there the good things in this here world, and give ya' mom a call, she needs it." My eyes widened when he mentioned my mother.

"Speaking of mom" I said finishing my drink "How has she been?"

"No too good man. Ever since word got out that ya' died, she hasn't been the same. She never talks to no one, she's lost a lot of weight, and when she ain't workin' she coops herself up in her house, I think you should stop by and say hi." I thought about for a second, how would I explain this whole thing to my mother?

"Maybe, but how will I explain it all to her?"

"Ease in on it. Don't just drop all the shit on her all at once like ya' did with me. I'm sure she can except it with time."

"I guess that's a good idea. But how are we going to get to her house?"

"I can drive the both of ya' in my band van." I sighed; Nick never kept his van clean. All the musical instruments would be tossed all around in the back, he'd throw trash on the ground, it was a mess.

"Fine, now bring it around; I'll meet you down at the Parking lot." Nick got up and walked out of the dorm room to go on his little quest. I walked towards the window and watched over the parking lot.

"Okay Fluttershy, when we fly out to his van, stay in the dark okay? We can't let anyone see you; it'll be bad if they do." Fluttershy nodded and I opened the window again. I climbed outside and she flew out. I waited until Nick came around in his van, then I jumped. I glided down to his van that was now parked next to the dorm building. Nick had a ford E-150 what was painted black and had his band's logo on it. He opened the back doors and we got in. I strapped in Fluttershy and myself in and we were off. Fluttershy grasped onto me, she didn't like the bumpy ride.

"W-What is a van Markey?"

"It's a machine that lets humans go really fast over large stretches of lands. Now keep your head low."

"Markey?" Nick snickered "I'm going to start calling ya' that now."

"Whatever Nicky." I said, pissing him off. Nick pulled out of the parking lot and drove off campus onto the highway. The highway dimly lit with streetlights, I was surprised we didn't crash due to low visibility. After taking an exit, we drove into my home neighborhood, Golden Oaks Place, doesn't that sound familiar. We drove down the street and pulled up in the driveway of my mom's house, my childhood home. I told Nick to keep the van running, and I went outside. As I began to walk up the driveway I felt snow coming down on my hoodie. I loved snow, so this would be great. I walked up to the door and rang the door bell. I didn't know what time at night it was, so she may have been sleep. I waited, and waited, then rang the door bell again. I heard the door unlock and the door opened, revealing my mother. She had wavy long hair, and she was very thin, I could see her ribs through the shirt she was wearing.

"Can I help you?"

"Hey mom."


	11. Chapter 10

Friendship is a life saver ch 10

**A/N – Sorry for the short and rushed chapter, I had a hard time writing it. Is basically filler for the epic chapters to come. So don't worry, shit's about to get real.**

I really wish you could have been there when I met my mother, her face lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. Her eyes twinkled; symbolizing the hole in her heart had been filled once again. Her boy, whom she thought was dead for well over a month, was alive and well. She clung to my chest like a sloth to a tree branch. She began to cry tears of ultra joy, I had never seen her this emotional, not since dad's passing. She pulled me inside and closed the door. She clung onto me again, and cried some more. I led her to the couch and we both sat down, all the while she let her pent up sadness run free. This went on for ten minutes straight; all the while not saying a word, there was no need for one. Once she finally calmed down, she decided to speak.

"Where have you been Marcus?" She asked in either a happy or angry tone of voice, I couldn't really tell.

"My own personal heaven." She was taken aback by that statement; she was confused as to whether or not I was real or an angel.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've found inner peace. During my time away, I discovered a place; a place filled with those who love me, a place where there is peace and prosperity, a place I must soon return to." My mother gasped at the statement.

"Y-You're not going to leave me again, a-are you?"

"I don't know, that's up to you."

'Stop being so cryptic Marcus, what do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is, when I find a way to get to my true home, I want you to come along. I want to share the peace and comfort I've received."

"True home?" She asked, perplexed as to what I meant.

"Mom, I have a fiancé at my home. I have friends who would go to the ends of the Earth for me, and I would do the same for them. I've met royalty, and very 'colorful' characters. This place changed me. I'm no longer this suicidal misanthrope, I'm a loving and caring soon-to-be husband, I've found my true home, and I want you to come with me, once I find a way back."

"Marcus, I have no idea what you're talking about, but if this place was great enough to change you for the better, I'll have to consider. But why did you leave in the first place?"

"It was by accident. I just ended up in that place against my will, but it was for the better. Look, my friends are trying to get back to me as we speak, and when they do, I want you to come with us. Leave all this behind, this house, this country, this world."

"So, you've been to another world? Were you kidnapped by aliens or something?"

"No, I just happened to come across talking ponies." Her eyes widened.

"Come again sweetheart?"

"I was somehow teleported to the My Little Pony universe." My mother didn't know what to think. On one hand, it seemed plausible as I left without a trace, but then again, I was teleported to a universe filled with talking ponies, unicorns, and Pegusi.

"I don't want to come off as being rude, but do you have proof sweetheart?"

"Yes I do, I'll be right back." I walked outside through the snow and told Nick we were going to introduce Fluttershy to my mother. He nodded and let Fluttershy out of the van. The three of made our way into the house. My mom's eyes again widened when she saw Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, this is my mother. Mom, this is Fluttershy, my fiancé." Mom sat there a moment, just glaring at Fluttershy, with made the small yellow Pegasus uncomfortable.

"Well, you're not bullshitting me I guess." My mom said rather bluntly

"Since when did ya' have a potty mouth Mrs. Kelly?"

"Shut up Nick." My mom was acting strange; she was both a bit excited and a bit afraid of what had just been revealed to her. But as the night went on, she got used to everything. I explained to her what exactly happened, and what Equestria was like. She took it really well, I was happy for her. Fluttershy also warmed up to my mother, I guess since now she would be her mother-in-law. The two talked for a very long time about their interests and what not; all the while me and Nick just sat and watched, enjoying some beer I got out of the fridge. After a half hour passed I told mom we needed a place to stay, and she gladly let us stay at her house. Nick stayed in the spare bedroom we've always used for storage, while me and Fluttershy slept in my room.

"Wow, is that you Markey?" Fluttershy asked, pointing to a picture of me on the wall from when I was twelve.

"Yep, it's hard to believe that was only nine years ago."

"Well you were handsome back then, and you're even more so now." I blushed; I just loved it when Fluttershy told me I was handsome. Fluttershy kept looking around my room for other things that interested her. She pointed to an old shoe box at the top of my closet and I got it down for her. I opened it; it turned out to be a photo album of my life. I sat on the bed with Fluttershy and we went through it. We started with my baby pictures; Fluttershy couldn't help but say 'aw' about seven or eight hundred times. I showed her pictures of the day I was born, my first bath, and a picture of my father holding me in his arms. My father was looking down at me, smiling, like he always did.

"You a lot like your father Markey."

"I know, its surreal really." I kept starring at the picture, if only he could see what was happening, boy would he be freaked out. We went through some more pictures of my childhood and teen years until we got to the very bottom of the box. I came across my suicide note, and my pocket knife. I tossed the note aside and opened the pocket knife. I looked at the single word engraved on the blade, "prosper." Well dad, you said to prosper, and I damn well did.


	12. Chapter 11

Friendship is a life saver ch 11

**(Six hours after Marcus and Fluttershy disappeared)**

Luna's moon rose over Ponyville, and the town was engulfed into the night. The locals tucked in their children and they themselves went to bed. Everypony was ready for a night of peaceful rest, everypony except the mane five and Discord. After Discord teleported Marcus and Fluttershy back down to Earth, the mane five had a field day yelling at Discord for what he did. Discord couldn't help but feel just a little bad. From what he heard, Marcus was a great guy, who didn't deserve all the pain he received back on Earth, but then again he stole his girl. The only reason he even bothered with helping the mane five was to get Fluttershy back to safety and maybe Marcus if he could be asked. The six colorful creatures had set up shop in Twilight's house, planning their approach. After learning of Earth and the crazy and brutal people there, they took no chances. Twilight made everypony invisibility potions, Rainbow Dash exercised her wings in case they needed to escape in a hurry, and Applejack helped Twilight with the actual plan, while Pinkie and Rarity provided moral support. Discord lay on the couch, drinking a glass of chocolate milk and reading Twilight's book on Earth. He turned to a page with a crudely drawn view of Earth from space.

"This world must be gigantic, how are we supposed to find Fluttershy?" Discord asked aloud.

"Why don't you just teleport us to where you teleported Marcus and Fluttershy to?" Twilight asked.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Discord asked with a smirk on his face.

"Bearded asshole." Rainbow dash mumbled, making sure nopony heard the new world Marcus taught her before he left.

"Okay everypony, listen up!" Applejack announced as Twilight pulled down a map of Earth, this one being much more refined than the one in the book.

"Marcus told me that he lived somewhere around here" Twilight said, pointing to Alaska "All we have to do is teleport there, and find Marcus."

"Is everypony ready?" Applejack asked. They all nodded and turned to Discord. The Draconequus sighed and snapped his eagle claw. A portal appeared in the middle of the room, now was the time. Making sure they had everything, Twilight led the charge into the portal, soon they all disappeared into the portal.

**(Marcus' POV)**

It felt so weird waking up back on Earth again. Being surrounded by all my childhood things, it felt like I was a kid again, waking up on a Saturday morning to catch my favorite cartoon. But I wasn't, I was back in my own personal hell, which was ready to engulf me in its fire of hate and misery. But at the very least, I have my little flutter butter next to me. Fluttershy slept gracefully under me, her face seemed so calm, as if she hadn't entered the valley of hell the night before. I could smell breakfast being cooked downstairs, and I was hungry, but I didn't want to wake Fluttershy up. I sighed and turned to face Fluttershy. My sudden movement caused her to stir a little bit, but she remained asleep. I ran my fingers through her mane ever so gently; I was all of a sudden engrossed with the creature that lay before me. I loved her, she loved me, so was it strange I had a missile in my pants? I came to the realization that I was attracted to Fluttershy in a more…"special" kind of way. She looked so cute, and a bit…oh who am I kidding, I want to fuck her. I know its blunt to say so, but it's true. On the night of our wedding, I'm going to fuck her silly. My thoughts of certain positions I'd like to perform were cut short by Nick entering the room.

"Ya' mom told me to tell you that breakfast's done." I frowned at Nick, he just barged in the room, and he didn't even have the common courtesy to knock. All the commotion was enough to bring Fluttershy out of her slumber. She opened her eyes and blocked the incoming sunlight with her hoof. I couldn't help but laugh and kissed her right on the nose.

"Good morning my little flutter butter." I said, getting up from the bed. "Did you sleep well?"

"Oh yes Markey, your bed was really comfy." She said as I put on my outfit.

"Mom's cooking dinner downstairs, you want anything?" Fluttershy's stomach grumbled, answering the question for me. Fluttershy blushed and we made our way downstairs. We walked into the kitchen where mom was cooking pancakes, and Nick sat drinking a beer.

"Really Nick? A Bud Light at 10:00 in the morning?" I asked, frustrated. At this point, there wouldn't be anything left for me!

"Yep, my uncle told me that beer and syrup was a good combo, and I'm fixin' to find out." I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Fluttershy who had already taken her seat.

"You boys sleep good last night?" My mother asked.

"I would've if she didn't keep that damn spare room as cold as a freezer." Nick grumbled.

"Well you're the one who says he likes the cold." My mother retorted

"Yeah, but when I can't feel my balls cause it's so cold, that's way too much." My mother laughed and walked up to the dinner table with the plates of pancakes for us. Nick was kind enough to get us the syrup and butter. We began to eat, and I was disappointed. I don't know if the ingredients back on Equestria, or if its Fluttershy, but the pancakes were not on par to the ones on Equestria. These ones tasted, for a lack of a better word, lifeless. They were dry, and a bit undercooked, my mother was a good cook, so this was horrifying. It seemed that every second I remained on Earth I found a new reason to hate it like I had always done. I sighed and ate the slightly shitty pancakes; I didn't want to insult my mother, especially after what happened last night. I looked over to nick who poured the syrup on his pancakes and held his beer.

"Here goes nothin'" He said as he both ate a piece of pancake and took a sip from his beer. His face contracted like someone had farted in the room. He walked over to the trash can next to Fluttershy and spit out what he had just chewed.

"My uncle lied to me, the dirty bastard…" Nick went on a tirade about his uncle and how he used to prank Nick nonstop. We just ignored the angry redneck and finished our meal. As I cleaned the dishes, the other three went into the living room and sat on the couch to watch TV. I looked over at Fluttershy, who was simply infatuated with the foreign object. The three channel surfed though many things: War dramas, reality shows, a news piece about a guy on top of the Washington monument, wait, what the hell? I walked into the living room, forgetting about the dishes, and sure enough CNN was showing news copter footage of a guy just sitting on top of the Washington monument.

" …_The question still remains, how did that young man get all the way up there without anyone seeing…what? Did you just see that!?" _The anchorman spouted. The man on top of the Washington monument seemingly willed a glass of some sort of beverage out of thin air. He just sat there, sipping from his glass and waving to the helicopters.

"Nick, Fluttershy, I think we're in trouble." I said, putting on my hoodie. This could mean one thing, and one thing only, Discord.

**(13 Hours before)**

In the blink of an eye, the mane five went from being in Equestria, to being in the human world, Earth. The portal opened and everypony walked out, only to be greeted by darkness. As the portal disappeared behind them, Discord summoned a lantern and held it up.

"Are we all here?" Discord asked. The mane five nodded and they took in their surroundings. For one thing it was bitterly cold, everypony except Discord shivered in place. Second, it was night time, which meant they had a better chance of not being spotted by anyone. But what made the mane six and Discord cringe was the fact they were surrounded by waist height white marble stones that seemed to extend for miles.

"T-Twilight, a-are we in a…" Pinkie Pie tried to finish her sentence, but instead clung on to Twilight for dear life. Discord shines his lantern over one of the stones, which simply read "Unknown U.S. solider."

"Oh my, um, to answer your question Pinkie, yes, we're in a cemetery." Everypony gasped, not out of fear, but out of astonishment. To think that so many dead were buried in one place, the ponies shuttered.

"Okay, we need to figure out just where the heck we are." Applejack asserted.

"Agreed. Discord, can you conjure up a map or something?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm, let me try." Discord snapped his eagle claw and a small brochure appeared in mid air. Twilight levitated the map and began to read

"_Arlington National Cemetery serves as a cemetery and a memorial to America's__persons of national importance, including presidents, Supreme Court justices and countless military heroes. The Cemetery was established during the Civil War as a final resting place for Union soldiers on approximately 200 acres of Mary Custis Lee's 1,100 acre Arlington estate.__The property was expanded over the years to encompass more than 624 acres of burial grounds of more than 400,000 American servicemen. Each year, more than four million people visit Arlington, attending graveside services and special ceremonies to pay tribute to veterans and historical figures_."

Everypony gasped once more.

"400,000 people, all dead, and buried here?" Rarity asked herself, unable to accept what was right in front of her.

"It looks that way, but we can feel sorry for them later, let's see if this thing had a map." Twilight said, flipping through the pages. She soon came across a detailed map of the cemetery.

"Okay, we're currently in the 'tombs of the unknowns' and we need to head south on the trail. Well, let's go I guess." The mane five and Discord trotted though the hundreds of graves that sat before them. Discord in particular was stunned, although he didn't dare show it. He was the master of chaos, but it was all in good nature, he never meant for anypony to lose their life, but what he was seeing, was the result of a chaos too wicked even for him to handle. After a few minutes of trekking through the countless gravestones they found the cobblestone path that lead to the other parts of the cemetery.

"Rainbow Dash, can you fly up and see the way out?" Twilight asked.

"No problem." Rainbow Dash flew up in the sky, and was baffled by what she saw. There were countless illuminated buildings, all of which seemed to reach into the heavens. There was a giant white rotunda in the distance, and a very tall marble stick thing sticking out in the middle of nowhere. The roads were crowded with people and loud machine that moved through the roads. Rainbow Dash wouldn't admit it, but it was a sight to see. She flew back down to the group, her face still looking shocked.

"Well, what did ya' see?" Applejack asked.

"Pure, 100 percent, awesome." Rainbow replied as she led the group to the exit. Before they were able to leave however, they came across a while marble building, with a large marble square at the end of the stairs that lead to the building. At the bottom if the stairs stood a tall uniformed man, marching back and forth, with a strange metal and wood stick thing in his hands. The man said nothing, looked at nothing, he just marched in the bitter cold.

"What is he doing?" Twilight whispered.

"He's acting like one of Princess Celestia's royal guards. He's a guard of some sort." Rarity asserted.

"Yeah, but of what?" To answer Twilight's second question, Discord conjured a pair of binoculars and looked through them. He focused in the marble square that had had some sort of writing.

"Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God." Discord read aloud. "I guess he's guarding that giant tomb." The group shrugged and continued on the cobblestone trail. They eventually reached the exit, where Twilight stopped.

"Okay everypony. If we're going to stand a change out there, we're going to need some disguises. This means we're going to have to…become human.


	13. Chapter 12

Friendship is a life saver ch 12

**(Marcus' POV, 10:32 AM)**

I walked in circles around the living room, mumbling to myself. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. I should of known Discord would have tried to do something like this, I guess I should have never given him the benefit of the doubt. The longer I ranted, the more stressed and panicked I became. I began to worry about the well being of my little flutter butter, her friends, and even earth itself. What would happen to everybody and everypony? Would the government take away Fluttershy and her friends? Would Discord destroy the world? Would the human population fall into chaos knowing another dimension of sentient ponies exist? All these worries pushed me over the edge, I started to hyperventilate. My mother ordered Nick to sit me down in the armchair and try to calm me down. He was able to sit me down, but could not for the life of him get me to calm down. He tried assuring me that everything would be okay, and tried to ask me to take deep breaths, but to no avail. I began to get dizzy from the lack of oxygen, I was about to pass out. I nearly did faint, but for my savior Fluttershy. She saw how stressed I was becoming and decided to do something about it. She flew from the couch and onto my lap. She looked at me dead in the eyes, and began to talk in her smooth, angelic voice. I can't even remember what she said, all I know is she calm me down with those words. I started to calm down, in a sense that is. I was no longer on the verge of collapsing; now I was on the verge of tears. I squeezed Fluttershy into a tight embrace, and began to sob.

That was the first time I cried like that since dad died. All I could think about was home, and how I may never be there again. I kept thinking about my wedding, and how it would never happen. I worried for Equestria, what if the human population finds a way there and fucks it up for everypony? I felt truly defeated, as I sobbed the news commentator kept reporting of chocolate rain, chickens roaming the streets, and other such chaotic things. I didn't know what to do, but Fluttershy did. She, for a couple a moments, broke her shy attitude and set me straight. She grabbed my head with her two hooves and gave me "the stare." It's a frightening sight, frightening enough to make me stop crying and listen to her.

"Look at me Markey, we can't sit around and cry now can we? We have to go out, and help our friends, do you understand?" I nodded. She let me go and I wiped the tears off my face.

"F-Fluttershy is right; we need to g-get to D.C." I announced. It was time for us to take action, but first, someone knocked on the door. My looked through the blinds and told us a guy in a suit and black glasses was standing outside. And accompanying him were four American soldiers. I sighed; I knew exactly why they were here. I opened the door, not bothering to tell Fluttershy to hide.

"Marcus Kelly?" The older looking agent asked.

"Yes sir." I responded.

"You know why we're here son, just bring your family along and everything will be fine." I signaled everyone in the room to come forth, and they did. The agent, along with his solder friends, raised an eyebrow when they saw Fluttershy, but they said nothing. The five government employees escorted us into a…limo for some reason. I was expecting some small cramped black van or something. One of the solders opened the door for us, and we got in. The solders and the agent also entered and the limo began to move. I sat next to Fluttershy in the very back seat, while Nick and my mom sat on the sides. The agent, who sat in front of me, took off his glasses, revealing stressed and aging gray eyes.

"I just want you know son that we're not going to hurt you or your friends. If you have any questions, please ask.

"Okay. What happened to my friends?"

**(Washington D.C 9:30 PM, the night before. Twilight's POV)**

Everypony gasped at my suggestion. Becoming human? A weird and extreme proposal I know, but there was no other way.

"Listen girls, I know it sounds like a freaky plan, but we have no other choice." I pointed out. All of them opened their mouths to protest, but closed them, knowing none of them could think of anything better. I turned to Discord, and asked him to transform us. The Draconequus grew a smirk on his face that made me uncomfortable. He snapped one of his eagle talons and we were all engulfed in a bright light. The sensations I felt were indescribable. The bones in my body morphed, the fur on my coat vanished, and I could feel clothes materializing on my body. The whole process took only a few seconds, but the strange feelings that accompanied it made it feel like minutes. Eventually the transformation was complete, and the giant white orb that engulfed us went away, revealing out new bodies. I looked down at myself, I looked exactly the same when I entered the human parallel universe, so did all my friends. Speaking of my friends, their reactions to their transformation were…differing.

Since I had prior experience walking on two legs, I was standing up fine, and was able to walk without much trouble. The others however, weren't as up to speed as I was. My friends lay on the ground, disoriented from what just happened. Each of them had a different reaction to their new human forms. Rainbow Dash was in a panic without her wings, Applejack was on her hands and knees, trying to figure out a way to stand up without falling. Rarity was too buy admiring the dress she had on to even care, and pinkie was playing with her finger, bending them and curling them, she seemed to be taking it well, I wish I could say the same for Rainbow Dash. She was ranting about not having her wings, and not knowing how to stand up.

"Can somepony help me up?" She asked with clear stress in her voice.

"I think you mean someONE." A voice responded. We all looked to where the booming voice came from, it was Discord. The former Draconequus stood at 6'4, with white-ish pink skin much like Marcus had. Now that I looked at it, all of us had white-ish pink skin, it made feel naked. At least the hair on our heads matched our manes. Back to Discord. His hair was short, brown, and messy; it looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. He kept his long white goatee as well. He wore a small red jacket, a blue undershirt, green pants, and red shoes. He looked, for lack of a better word, chaotic. I turned over to Rarity, who was green with disgust. She lied on the cobblestone, rubbing her temples. I extended a hand to help her up. She did so, but reluctantly so. Her hand shook as it reached out to mine. She flinched when I grasped on it and pulled her up.

"I'm going to have to get used to these… 'hands' as you call them." Rarity said, looking at said hands. By this point, the others had gotten up and tried to walk. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were having no trouble, but Rainbow was. She stood in the middle of the cobblestone path, hesitant to take a step. I could see her moving her back muscles, trying to flap the wings that weren't there. Being the good friend I am, I grabbed her hand and led her to the cemetery exit. She didn't say a word, but the look she gave me read 'thanks Twi.' Once all of us walked out of the cemetery and onto the sidewalk, we thought of a game plan. First, we would find a place with a map, then we would make our way to Alaska to get to Marcus and Fluttershy. We all decided on that plan and headed of north, not knowing where to go.

We walked on the side walk through a pleasant little park, which was brightly lit by the streetlights that adorned the sides of the sidewalk. It was a beautiful sight to behold; I just wish we could have spent more time there. It had a nice pond with ducks and everything, oh well. We kept walking until we stepped out of the park and onto more sidewalks. Only this sidewalk was next to the street, where cars were driving. Marcus had told me of cars, they were these giant machines that could take humans and their things across great distances in a short amount of time. Those things frightened me, along with the rest of the group, excluding Discord, who was ogling them like they were members of the opposite sex. We turned onto another sidewalk, this one having buildings on it to our side. Maybe here we could get a map or something to that degree. We walked past the buildings, hoping that one was open so late at night. The only place that was open was a small shop with a red white and blue flag on the top of it. The sigh above read "American Merchandise," maybe they had a map.

The six of us walked into a small, but packed store, filled to the brink with shirts, hats, and other accessories baring the red white and blue. I guess they take great pride in their country, a little too much so for my taste. We were greeted by an older gentleman. He was balding and had a small brown soul patch.

"Why hello there." The man announced with a pleasant smile on his face "What brings y'all in so late at night?"

"Well sir, we're looking for a map, we're not from around here." I said nervously.

"No problem ma'am. What kind of map are ya' looking for. City? District? Country?"

"We're looking for the country one my good man." Discord interjected.

"No problem they're in the back, you can't miss em.'" We walked to the back of the store and came across the maps. They were rolled up like a scroll, but were opened easily enough. I picked up one and opened it, revealing a map of "The United States of America." I was boggled by how many "states" they had. I counted, they had fifty of them! I looked around the map for Alaska, but couldn't find it. That is, until Pinkie pointed it out to me. It wasn't even in the country, yet it was considered part of the country. It was on the west side of another land mass called "Canada." I looked at the bottom of the map to see what the size of what the country was. We were all astonished by how large it was, 3.8 million square milles. That's one third the size of Equestria as a whole! I then looked around for where we were. I remember seeing a sign in the cemetery that read "Washington D.C'S most historic piece of land." I looked around for Washington D,C, and finally found it. It was a small blip on the map, on the opposite of the country. I wanted to slap Dicord for sending us so far of course, but I should have expected that from him.

I rolled up the map and thanked the man for his time. We walked out of the store and tried to think of a way to get to Alaska.

"Alright Discord, could you just send us to Alaska. I can't stand it anymore. Please." I begged Discord to teleport us to the proper location.

"*Sigh* I guess. I just wanted everyone to explore the world a little bit, meet some new people, but whatever, I guess we can go now." Just as he was about to teleport us, three men in blue came up to us, and they did not look happy.

**( A/N - Sorry for the long update time and cliffhanger, Life is a bitch sometimes)**


	14. Chapter 13

Friendship is a life saver ch 13

**A/N - One month, 4000 views, and 30,00 later. Yep, its been a month since the publication of this story. It has since become my most popular story I've ever written. A big thank you goes out to everyone who took the time to review, favorite, follow, and read. Thank you, it really means a lot to me. - Goateeman **

**(Marcus' POV, 10:40 AM)**

The agent had to stop his little story about what Twilight had said to him, we had finally arrived at the airport in Juneau. The limo drove all the way into the back of the enormous facility and one to the run way. By this point we were being escorted by police over to our plane. The plane we were to take to D.C was a towering black behemoth. It looked like a Boeing 747 crossbreed with an SR-71, it looked so fucking cool. If I saw this as a kid I may have shit myself, that's how cool the plane looked. Once the police cars drove away and left us at the plane, we got out and boarded. Fluttershy was covering her ears due to all the loud noises, and closing her eyes. She was mortified by all the giant flying objects; she just wanted it to stop. I held her in my arms and walked up the stairs into the plane.

The interior was massive, it having more seats than I could count. The agent explained to me that this was supposed to be a commercial plane someday, but now it's just used for insanely fast travel. The agent, along with his four solder friends, escorted us to first class. The seats were large and comfy, the seats could lie back all the way, and it was devoid of any crying children, score! Me, mom, and Fluttershy sat next to each other in a single row, while Nick took up the entire row behind us. His explanation being that he needed a break from all this. He had a point, I was mentally exhausted from all this, I just wanted to sleep, but then I remembered the agent had more of his story to tell. The agent sat in the only remaining seat and continued his story.

**(Twilight's POW, 9:51 PM, Washington D.C)**

These men looked familiar. I remember Marcus telling me that since humans are so prone to criminal activity, they needed people to police the land, hence the name "The Police." The three men told us that they've been tracing us since we left the cemetery. Apparently we were in their afterhours and we were suspected of being vandals or something to that degree. We tried to explain that we weren't from around here, but they had none of it. They said that they were going to arrest us, like we were criminals. Marcus was right; the police are assholes, to paraphrase my beloved friend.

The officer told me to put my hands behind my head. I did so, but then he jammed me against the wall with one hand, and put shiny silver shackles around my wrists. For whatever reason this got Discord upset.

"Whoa now sir, that's no way to touch a lady." Discord said, with hostility evident in his voice. As soon as he said that, one of the spare officers told him to stand up against the wall, but he told the officer we would do no such thing. The officer then pulled out a strange metallic object out of some sort of holster. It had a grip and a barrel, I didn't know what it was, but I knew it could cause some serious damage. The officer told Discord to get on the ground, but Discord shook his head dismissively. He snapped one of his fingers and turned that metallic object into a balloon animal that popped in the officer's face. I couldn't help but laugh at the cop's face. Marcus told me that magic didn't exist on this planet, and that nasty man got his first taste of it. The officer handling me let me go, we was stunned by what just occurred.

"Oh you three are so boring, say something, do something!" Discord pleaded, unhappy with the officers' reactions. "You know what, never mind, nighty night." With another snap of his fingers, the officers' uniforms were replaced with baby blue pajamas and the three immediately fell asleep on the ground, with pacifiers in their mouths and blankets around their bodies.

"Sometimes, it's good to have the master of chaos as a friend." Rainbow Dash commented.

"Onwards now, we must find this 'Alaska' you speak of. Actually, I have a better idea for the moment." Discord headed off in a random direction onto a sidewalk that lead to a small building with a large white spike in the top of it. The large spike had what looked like a lower case "t" on the top of it. There were about nine people outside of it, they looked like they were protesting it, and Discord was interested. The five of us knew something was about to go down, so we decided to follow Discord. All of us finally walked up to the building, the sign in front of it read "Savior Non-denominational Church." I had no idea what that meant, maybe those protesters might know something.

"Excuse me sir, but what's going on here?" I asked a very old looking man with a cowboy hat, much like the one Applejack was wearing, except it was a marble white color.

"A couple of queers are gettin' married in that church, and we're her to show our disapproval." Queers? What we're those? I decided to ask him.

"I'm sorry sir, but me and my friends here aren't from around here. Do you mind explaining what a 'queer' is to us?"

"You see ma'am, queers are people who 'love' the people of the same gender. My family and I find it so be sinful and wrong. They're messed up in the head; all we're tryin' to do is show them the error of their ways." I felt my whole body boil up inside me. How dare these pitiful excuses for human beings protest the love of one another. We have plenty of "queer" relationships on Equestria, and everypony is just fine. These people are acting like it affects them. There's a word for people like him, oh yeah, bigot. Just as I was about to say something, the door to the church opened, and out came the lovely couple. Two men in tuxedos, who were holding hands, walked out, with confidence on their face. They said nothing to the would-be protesters, who were swearing and ridiculing them, but they weren't bothered by them, just like they should be. The couple, along with their accompany party, got in their cars and left the church. Once they left the protesters just up and left. What did they accomplish? Nothing, that's what! I wanted to get to the bottom as to why those people were so hateful, so I walked into the church.

The inside of the building was small, almost claustrophobic. The entire building was a single room, with five rows of chairs on each side of the room. There was also some sort of altar and a piano hidden in the corner. Sitting on the piano stool was a middle aged man, rubbing his temples. He looked up at us, and stood up to look more professional.

"Can I help you six?" The man asked firmly. He looked exhausted; I think he just wanted to go home.

"Yes sir, um, what were those people doing outside? We're not from around here, we're just curious." I explained. The man, who was now undoing his tie, abandoning any sense of professionalism, sat us down on the front row seats while he sat on the stair of the altar.

"That was the Westboro Baptist Church. They're a hatful bunch, spewing vulgar things, claiming to be the 'right' Christians; it's a sickly sight to behold." Okay, now I was really confused. I decided to ask what a "Christian" was. The man's eyes widened.

"You must REALLY not be from around here. Let me explain." The man told us he was a preacher, a man who "spread the word of God." God was a diety worshipped my many, a book called the Bible explained that God created the universe in six days, and his son died for our "sins." While the rest were bored by what the man had to say, I was intrigued. Ever since I was a filly I was always fascinated by other ponies' religions. Nopony I had met had a religion personally, so now was my time to investigate. The man handed me a copy of the bible and instructed me to read it once I got home. But before we left, the man gave us some words of wisdom. "Do onto on to others that which is good, and you shall be rewarded." We said our goodbyes and left the church.

"That was a rather nice fellow don't you think?" Discord said as we continued on the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I can't wait to add this to the royal library, I'm sure it's fascinating." Everyone rolled their eyes dismissively. "But no more stalling, we need to get to Alaska." Everyone was in agreement. While this world was filled with mysterious wonders, we just wanted our friends back; we had to find a way to get them back.

"It looks like everything's closed" Pinkie pointed out "Maybe we should get some rest at that hotel over there." Pinkie pointed to a "Quality Inn" just down the street. We all agreed it was rather late and we needed some rest. We made our way to the hotel walked through automatic sliding doors! I thought Marcus told me there wasn't any magic one Earth. We walked up to the counter, where a tan-skinned woman was standing. She gave us some weird looks, I guess because of our colorful attire.

"We need a room please" Discord said, putting his shoulder on the counter and resting his head on it. He had a lustful look in his eyes; he was trying to manipulate the nice lady, how rude! The lady rolled her eyes and told us the room would cost ten "dollars" for the night. Whatever that was, we had none of it. So Discord snapped his fingers, and out popped a solid gold bar in his hands. The lady's eyes widened, she was awestruck.

"Just keep this between you and me, okay honey?" The lady nodded, put the gold under the counter, and gave us a plastic card that would open our room. She told us to take the stairs; the room was the first one on the left. We followed her directions and ended up at our room. The card said to swipe it in the metal door handle, but it wouldn't work. I swiped it over and over, and grunted when it didn't work. Applejack grabbed the card, turned it to the other side, and swiped it. A light on the door handle turned green and the door opened. I thanked Applejack for helping me, although I felt like an idiot afterwards. Our room was rather large, as it better be if it was going to accommodate the six of us. I was…unimpressed. There were three queen size beds in the middle of the room, a dresser with a black screen on it, and a bathroom. That's about it, the only other thing was a table that people could eat on. I sighed; I knew getting pampered by royalty would do this to me.

We broke off into three groups of two; one group would share a bed. Rainbow and Pinkie Pie shared one, Rarity and Discord shared one, and Applejack and I would share one. I felt a bit sorry for Rarity, knowing how much she hated Discord's outfit; she had to sleep next to it. There was short, yet heated argument as a result of that. She wanted to trade spots with someone, but no one, not even Pinkie, would budge. Rarity accepted her defeat and took her place on the bed, as we all did. I turned off the lamp that lit the room, and everyone said goodbye. I really miss home; after all I've seen today, I can see why Marcus considers Equestria his home. Soon we all fell asleep but not for long, we we're interrupted by men in black. These men in black suits and glasses burst through our door, startling us. They were all holding the same metal-gripped objects as the police, but they were much larger, almost a yard long. There were six of them, one for each of us I guess. The tackled all of us to the ground, putting us in shackles.

"Sorry girls, but I'm out." Discord snapped his fingers, and disappeared, leaving us with these brutes masquerading as men. These men didn't seem stunned by what just happened, they just ignored it. Rainbow and Applejack tried to fight back, but both of them got a nice punch in the face because of it. The men dragged us out of our room, through the hotel, and into a large black car with a containment unit in the back. We were thrown in the back like a sack of potatoes and the door closed, leaving us in complete darkness.

"I don't think I like it here anymore." Pinkie said, grabbing my arm for comfort. Soon we fell asleep, huddling together for warmth. Lets see: 400,000 dead soldiers, people who hate love, and overly aggressive law enforcement. Marcus was right, Earth is horrible.


	15. Chapter 14

Friendship is a life saver ch 14

**A/N – Sorry for the long update, I got lazy. **

**(Marcus' POV)**

"Stop, just stop." I said, putting my hand in front of the agent's face. I heard all I needed to hear, and I was pissed. They just tossed them in the back of a prison van like a bunch of ragdolls. It was bad enough that the police and CIA do this with whoever they want, but this just went over the fucking line for me. I could tell the agent was trying to play down the whole incident, but he couldn't. He was literally telling me what Twilight told him when he interrogated her. That last sentence really did it for me "Marcus was right, Earth was horrible."

I've grown immensely as a person since I arrived in Equestria, and I've dropped most of bad thoughts about Earth. Hell, before this asshole came by, I was kind of glad to be home. I had missed so many things about Earth: The music, the food, the beer, all that good stuff. I was planning on showing Fluttershy everything this world had to offer, but now…I just want to go home. The agent took of his glasses, and looked me in the eyes with a serious look on his face.

"Marcus, I apologize for what we did to your friends, I truly am. But we had to secure them before things got out of hand like they just did. Our thinking was that if we question them, we could prevent disruption of the peace…I'm sorry our plan failed." I looked back at the man; I didn't know what to feel. I was still livid over the treatment of my friends, but his apology seemed genuine. Now that his glasses were removed I studied the man's face. His eyes had bags under them, and the eye themselves were a dull gray-greenish color. He was definitely an older man, the wrinkles and receding hairline showed it, but he also showed obvious signs of stress. I felt sorry for him. He had to deal with interdimensional beings capable of producing actual magic, whom one of them was causing havoc in the streets as we spoke, a lot was on his mind. So like with my other friends, I wanted to get to know him. It may sound weird, but if I was going to work with this guy, we may as well clear up any bad blood we had.

"What's your name?" I asked out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" The agent said with sincere confusion.

"Your name, I want to know your name."

"John, Agent John Winston. Is this important to you? Are you planning something?" I chuckled; I loved how paranoid he was at the moment.

"No John, I just wanted to know your name. I want to clear up all the awkwardness here." John still had that confused look on his face, but his body seemed to be more relaxed, he wasn't nearly as tense, I think my plan was working.

"Do you have any family?" I asked once more.

"Is this really necessary? We have more pressing matters on hand."

"What are we going to do about this whole situation on this plane? Sit around with our thumbs up our asses?" John conceded, since nothing was being done at the moment anyway, he might as well open about his family.

"…Yes, I have a wife and two boys. The boys are out of the house, they have been for years now. It's just me and the wife, but I barely see her anymore. My kids don't keep in contact with me anymore…" He stopped in mid-sentence and looked away from me.

"I'm sorry" he said "I doubt you want to hear my various sob stories and disappointments." I put my hand on John's shoulder.

"I didn't ask you that question for no reason. I'm interested in what you have to say." John sighed and proceeded to tell me his basic life story. He was born in the mid-fifties to an average middle class family out in Wisconsin. He told me that ever since he was a little boy he wanted to join the CIA, and he wanted to impress his father by doing so. John had a lot to say about his father. His father was a World War II veteran, and had achieved the rank of Lieutenant. Because of that, John had a very restrictive and structured childhood. Wake up at six in the morning, go to school, come back home, do chores, eat, sleep, repeat. John told me that was his routine all the way into his early teen years. When his mother died of tuberculosis in the late 1960's, he told me his father changed.

Before this, John described his father as tough, but he did love him, and his father loved him back, even if he didn't like to show it. But after his mother's death, his father took out his frustration out on John. He beat him, yelled at him, degraded his son, and told him he wouldn't amount to nothing. After he graduated high school, he never spoke to his father again. But john had planned to. Back in 1985, John had been accepted into the CIA as an agent. John was ecstatic, and wanted to tell his father the good news. It had been years since the two talked up until this point, so he wanted to clear up the bad blood, and maybe make up for lost time. Strangely enough, before he was able to call his father, he himself got a call from the hospital. The doctors up in Wisconsin told John his father had suffered a heart attack, and that he had passed away that afternoon. John told me he never hung up the phone, he just dropped it and sat on the floor, crying. It was when he was telling this part of the story where the hardened veteran had let a few tears escape his eyes. Everyone around was sad for him, Fluttershy even shed a few tears of her own. John knew it was no use holding back now; he just let loose and cried in the seat next to me. I knew all these government agents had a conscience.

John cried for a good five minutes straight, all the while Fluttershy sat next to him, whispering words of comfort into his ear. John went to the plane's bathroom and cleaned himself up. When he came back, he had a smile on his face. Fluttershy sat back in her original seat so that man could have his back.

"Thank you, I need that." He said to all of us.

"That was some deep shit ya' drug us through." Nick said, sitting up from his lying state.

"Yes I know, but Marcus here asked for it." John was completely relaxed, and he had stopped the whole "Act official" shtick around us. He really opened up, I was glad to see a CIA agent of all people do that.

"Well we only have five minutes until the lands, everyone get ready." John got up and went into the cockpit. Me, mom, Fluttershy, and Nick were now ready to take on the enormous task on hand. I strapped on my wing suit, and was now ready. Wait, wing suit? I forgot had brought the wing suit with me, which gave an idea.

The plane landed at the airport, and the chaos Discord had started was evident. The runway and ground were covered in a brown sludge, a mix of snow and chocolate milk. Discord was always very fond of chocolate rain clouds. As we departed the plane the smell of the milk was almost unbearable, it smelled expired, and none of us were going to taste it and find out. We entered into the limo that was waiting for us. The limo took off, and was escorted by two police cars. All the tall buildings, loud noises, and confusion was hard to muster, Fluttershy was gripping my arm for comfort like a teddy bear. I ran my fingers through her mane, and assured her everything would be back to normal in no time, I hope.

As we drove through the streets, the bystanders were running for their lives. Police could be seen running alongside the civilians, all of whom were decked out in riot gear and wielded shotguns. Most of the people were covered in that brown sludge, the whole town looks like God took a giant shit on it. After evading all the panicked pedestrians, we arrived at our destination, the Pentagon. The whole building was on high alert. Military grade helicopters hovered overhead, every entrance was guarded, it was intimidating to say the least. The limo stopped in front of a garage, where a few riot cops were waiting for us. The looks on their face when they saw Fluttershy exit the limo weren't what I expected. They didn't seem fazed, but whatever, the less looks she gets the better. The three guards escorted us to an elevator that John said would take us to my friends. After a minute or so of descent, we arrived at the interrogation floor. John informed me it was a secret part of the facility that they used to interrogate, but he assured me nothing bad was happening to my friends, which was good, otherwise there would be hell on earth, more than there already was. We walked down an extremely long hallway, with interrogation rooms on either side of us. Near the end of the hallway, I could see through the one way glass of one of the rooms, my friends arguing with an agent.

"I'm sorry, but my superiors told me to keep you here until further notice." The agent argued as both he and Twilight sat at the table.

"Look sir, we've fought Discord before, we can find a way to beat him again. You NEED to let us go out, or else this whole city of yours will come tumbling down."

"You don't think I don't know that? Look, I'd love nothing more than to let you go, but that's just the rules here." Both the agent and Twilight sighed. Twilight trotted over to her friends who stood at the back of the dimly lit room, thinking of a plan. Now was the time to set things straight, and reunite with my friends. I opened the door, walked in, and smiled. This moment only lasted mere seconds, but time seemed to slow down to the point of stopping. Everypony's eyes widened as I walked through the door. Pinkie Pie, being who she is, charged at me and tackled me to the ground. She wrapped her forelegs around my torso and squeezed with all her might, almost crushing my ribcage. The other four ponies huddled around me and Pinkie and all participated in a group hug. Nopony had any words, all they did was hug me, and Pinkie even got teary-eyed at one point, but held the urge to cry down. Once Pinkie and the rest saw I was turning blue in the face, they released me.

"Oh my gosh, Marcus you're back!" Twilight managed to blurt out.

"We missed you so much darling." Rarity said.

"Really now?" I said, getting up from the ground "I never would have guessed." I walked over to the door and opened it. I signaled Nick, mom, and Fluttershy to come in. Fluttershy was the first to enter, and just like with me, she was tackled to the ground by Pinkie Pie. After another group hug the mane six were reunited, along with their human companion, me.

"Now that's out of the way, I have two people I'd like for you to meet. Girls, this is Nick and Linda, my mother. Mom, Nick, these are my friends: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash." The mane six, excluding Fluttershy of course, took a little time to talk with Nick and my mother. They seemed to kick it off, especially Nick and Applejack, I don't think Nick even talked to the other ponies, just Applejack.

"Alright you two lovebirds, now's not the time to be flirting, it's time for action." I teased. The two blushed and joined the group huddle we had going on.

"Alright, I have a plan, but I'd like to hear yours first." I said.

"Well, we tried thinking of ways to stop Discord, but they either ended up not working, or hurting Discord. He's reformed, so I THINK, he can be reasoned with." Twilight explained.

"Well, I think my plan may work after all. My plan is to show how Discord the error of his way, just trust me, we don't have much time. Let's go!" I walked out of the interrogation room, along with my friends. John led us back up to ground level, and we soon got outside. The terrain was changed a bit. There was no more brown sludge everywhere, thank God, but there were green rain clouds above, that couldn't be good. I felt a green rain drop land on my cheek, and it smelled horrible, it smelled like pickle juice. I took my finger, wiped it off, and put it against my tongue, I was right. I looked across to see a heard of chickens stampeding on the sidewalk, mildly annoying those they passed by. I went back under the roof of the garage so I wouldn't get soaked in pickle juice.

"Alright, first things first. John, I need you to get all the emergency personal away from the monument, and use them to evacuate more citizens. Shooting Discord is not an option. Second, I need Nick and mom to go with the agents, things might get harry. Third, me and everypony else will make out way to the monument, and see if our plan works." I finished my plan, but Nick just HAD to interject.

"What if this plan of yours don't work?"

"I don't know honestly, but we'll think of something, now move!" Holding our breath, everyone and everypony ran out into the pickle juice rain and proceeded with the plan. John radioed to all emergency personal to get away from the monument, Nick and mom got back into the limo, they were doing their parts very well.

"Alright Twilight, can you teleport us to the monument?" I asked.

"Well, I've never teleported this many individuals before, but I'll try." A purple aurora surrounded all seven of us. Soon enough, the aurora bubble turned white and we vanished. An instant later we appeared fifty feet away from the massive monument. Twilight was panting; the teleportation took a lot out of her. As we arrived at the monument, Discord was on top of the monument, yelling at the now evacuating police officers.

"Where are you going? I thought we were becoming friends!" He yelled down. By this point, Discord was back to his Draconequus form. He turned his attention to the three news choppers flying above, covering the event. He teleported into one of them, and fucked around with the pilot. I couldn't see so good since the helicopter was so high up, but a helicopter isn't supposed to spin out of control, or fly upside down like that. Now was the time to confront him. I opened the wing suit and took off to the top of the monument. The view was both terrifying and amazing. I could see all of DC, all the historic monuments, and all the pickle clouds off in the distance. The streets were jam-packed with cars, and people trying to escape, not to mention all the cops. Weirdly enough, I didn't see any ambulances, I was sure that someone would have got hurt.

Discord finally got boarded of screwing around with the chopper pilot and teleported back on top of the Washington monument, where I was waiting for him. When Discord saw me, I could see it in his eyes that he knew something was about to go down.

"Marcus? How'd you get up here?" He asked, baffled. I retracted my wing suit, showing off the large black angel wings.

"I have my ways." I retorted. "I see you made yourself quite at home."

"Why yes I have. I think the pickle clouds are a great addition don't you think?"

"Well, we all have our own tastes."

"Well, you obviously didn't come here to make chit-chat. What do you want?" He said, now talking to me with scorn in his voice.

"It's time to go home Discord."

"Maybe, but you say that as if you're part of the equation. You're already home my dear human 'friend.'"

"You and I both know this isn't my home, not anymore." The two of us were facing off at this point; the hostility was both evident and brewing inside of both of us.

"Really? Because last I checked, that guest room in Fluttershy's cottage belonged to me." Discord said.

"You think I sleep in that dingy little room? Me and Fluttershy have been sharing a bed for the past month." I could see literal flames in the creature's eyes. He assumed by "sharing a bed" I meant something a bit more…sensual. Oh how I loved fucking with his head, he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

"Speaking of Fluttershy, if you would so kindly transport us back home, me and her have a wedding to plan."

"You slimy little troll!" Discord grabbed me by the throat with his eagle talon. He ripped of my wing suit and threw it to the ground. Discord walked to the edge of the monument and held me out, threatening to drop me. Even though he had a grasp on my throat, I was able to choke out a few things.

"And you say…Fluttershy…was able…to reform you…" Discord, using his free lion paw, grabbed my leg, let go of my throat, and hung me upside down.

"You have five seconds to take back what your said or else you drop to your death you worthless pig."

"You're making my point for me you fool!" I yelled. "If you were truly reformed, would you be threatening to take the life of another? What do have to gain from this?!"

"You no longer being a throne in my behind." I feel the grip of my leg loosening, I had to think fast.

"Think of Fluttershy! Don't you realize that by killing me you'll break her heart? She'll never forgive you! And when the princesses find out what you did to me, you'll never see daylight again! You're smarter than this Discord! Just accept the fact that she's in love with me!" Discord just stood there for a moment, eyeing me. I could see the gears in his head working. He was contemplating what I had just said. He held me upside down for another thirty seconds, making me light headed. I felt my body being pulled upward and laid down on a slanted surface. Discord had laid me on top of the monument. As I reoriented myself, the Draconequus sighed and sat next to me. The world around us stopped moving, it was suspended in time.

"For a millennia I've searched for a true love. Mare after mare, dragon after dragon, species after species, I never found that special girl. But this time, I was so close; victory was in my grasp…" Discord sighed, and put both extremities over his face.

"…but it wasn't so." Me and him just sat there in awkward silence for what felt like hours. Discord was always an interesting character study. This near all powerful creature had the eagerness and energy of a small child, and now he was a hopeless romantic. I felt sympathetic for him. Before I met Fluttershy, I always thought I'd never find that special someone. Most of that was due to the fact I had planned to kill myself, but that's beside the point. I can remember the time Nick took me out to a bar for my 21st birthday. I had a blast, and seemed to attract a lot of women. I told the various bar sluts that I could play the guitar, and they loved the goatee I had at the time. But once I got back to the dorm that night, drunk off my ass, I remember crying in my bed because all those girls didn't want me for who I was. Even in my intoxicated state I knew those girls only wanted me for my dick, and rejected them because of that. Like I've said in the past, depression can make you think illogically. I thought every girl was like that, and that gave me more reason to off myself. I put a hand on Discord's shoulder.

"You'll find her someday Discord. You have a literal eternity to do so, I just so happened to get lucky." Discord turned his head; he had a smile on his face, and a single tear running down his eye.

"I guess you're right. I'm sure there's someone or something out there. So, we're friends now?"

"Maybe, we'll see when we go home." Discord snapped his eagle talon and both of us were on the ground. The world around us was still frozen in time, but that could work for my benefit.

"Hey Discord, before we go home, can you do a few things for me. I'll take it as payment for nearly killing me today."

"Very well, what do you need?" I listed off a list of things I wanted Discord to teleport for me. I requested my guitar, knife, and family photos from home. I also had him conjure up a few earth textbooks for Twilight; she'd love reading how everything on earth worked. After everything was teleported, Discord unfroze all of our friends from their suspended state. The six of them were disoriented for the first few seconds, but quickly regain themselves and ran towards us. Once a small group was formed, Discord cleared his throat and apologized for his actions.

"Um, I'm truly sorry for what happened here today. I hope you find it in your heats to forgive me."

"I knew you'd pull through Discord." Fluttershy said. She hovered up to Discord's face and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "We can still be friends; you can even stay in the cottage."

"As long as you pay some rent." I added. Discord had a giant blush on his face, which made everypony laugh. Discord snapped his eagle talon for a final time and opened a portal to Equestria. Before we entered, we heard shouting from behind us. We turned around and saw Nick and mom running towards us. Once they met up with us and caught their breath, Nick said

"You didn't forget about us did you?"

"Of course I didn't. Now if you'll help me with all this stuff, we can go home." I said, picking up my guitar and placing the knife in my pocket.

"What about all this mess in DC?" Mom asked.

"Oh don't worry my dear, everything will disappear and everyone's memories will be erased." Mom gave a sign of relief. "And what would your name be madam?"

"Linda, I'm Marcus' mother." Discord was intrigued.

"And I'm Nick, Marcus' friend/roommate/ future bassist in his future band."

"Can everypony stop with all the talking and go through the stinking portal already?" Rainbow Dash yelled impatiently.

"Alright, I guess this is goodbye to Earth." I held up both my middle fingers and walked into the portal. Nick laughed hysterically, while the ponies were confused. They didn't think about it for too long though, everypony was too homesick. Once everyone was in the portal, Discord snapped his eagle talon, and we disappeared. We all traveled through another void of light and soon ended up back home, back in Equestria. We arrived at the edge of the Everfree forest, back where we were a few days ago.

**"Now if you'll excuse us. Me and Fluttershy have a wedding to plan, and guests to welcome to this new world." The ten of us walked along the dirt trail back into Ponyville, everything was okay. Things were going to be fun from now on. **


	16. Chapter 15

Friendship is a life saver ch 15

**(Sorry for the long update, I got lazy again.)**

Home, I was finally home. I was back in Equestria, back in Ponyville, back to life as it should be. I took a few moments to take in my surroundings. The leaves of the trees that surrounded us blew in the light breeze; the sun was setting, making the way for Luna's moon. The smells of the countryside were vibrant and clean, unlike the air back on Earth. Everything was picture perfect, just as it was when we left. It turns out I wasn't the only one admiring the landscape. Mom and Nick were in awe of the sheer beauty of the countryside. The vibrant colors, the golden sky, and the quietness, all of it accumulated into an "orgasm of the senses", as Nick put it. I looked towards the setting sun, it would be best if everyone got settled down before it got dark. Nick and I decided that we would carry all the things we brought with us. I carried my guitar and box of family photos, while Nick carried all the textbooks. The ten of us walked down the dirt road into Ponyville proper, where we got some strange looks.

They weren't looks of fear, as was when I first arrived in Ponyville, but looks of bewilderment.

"_Whoa, more humans!" _One of the townsfolk said.

"_What's discord doing here?" _another pony said. I waved to the ponies like I would normally, and they happily waved back. I could see Nick and Mom were not at ease. Nick was breathing heavily, he was nervous beyond comprehension, as would anyone who was teleported to an entirely different dimension. My mother was taking it slightly better, but not by much. At least she looked at the ponies, hell, even one of the ponies waved to her, although she didn't return the gesture.

"This is going to take some getting used to." Nick said as we approached Twilight's library. Twilight had suggested that since Nick and Mom would be living here from now on, it would be wise to lend them a few books on Equestrian history and culture. Plus, it was a good opportunity to drop off the textbooks; Nick's arms were getting tired. Using her magic, Twilight opened the door of the library, me, Nick, and mom having to bend over to get in, that's one thing I do not miss this place. To Twilight's delight Spike was in the kitchen cooking dinner.

"Spike, were home!" Twilight called out as we entered.

"Oh good, I was just starting to worry that something…" Spike walked out of the kitchen and into the main room, where we saw everyone and everypony.

"…bad happened." He finished "I'm guessing these are friends of yours Marcus?" The baby dragon asked.

"Yep." I said, pushing both Nick and Mom to the front of the group. "This is my friend Nick, and this is my mother Linda."

"Oh, and what might you be?" Mom asked as she crouched over Spike with a smile on her face.

"Oh, um, I'm Spike. I'm a dragon and Twilight's number one/only assistant." Spike reached out for a handshake. Mom accepted it, but hesitantly. As the two shook hand and claw, the two both had weird faces, it was clear why. I don't think Spike has ever touched bare skin before, seeing as how most creatures he has ever encounter were either covered in fur, feathers, or scales. My mom was the same way. To my knowledge at least, she had never seen any sort of reptile in person, let alone a goddamn dragon. The two finished their little exchange, and then Spike walked back in to the kitchen to continue cooking. We followed him inside to continue the conversation.

"So Twilight, what happened? You and your friends were gone for a few days." Spike said as he put on an apron and put a few pans on the stove. We all looked towards Discord, the Draconequus in question looking away from our soul penetrating glares.

"Um, well so see Spike" Discord explained, sweat running down his forehead "I may have sort of, in a jealous fit of rage, teleported Marcus and Fluttershy back to Marcus' home planet." Twilight went on to explain the whole ordeal to her assistant, who was both angry, and fascinated. His blood boiled when Twilight told him what happened to her and her friends, but the description of the world she visited was fascinating, but strangely familiar. He hasn't forgotten about that high school get-the-crown-back scheme that happened a few months ago. After Twilight was done with her long-winded explanation, the room filled with awkward silence, the only sound being the ticking of a large grandfather in the back of the foyer.

"Well, it's getting late." I said, breaking the ice "I still have to get Nick and Mom settled down." The other ponies then gave their own reasons to leave. Rarity needed beauty sleep, Rainbow Dash would need the rest to catch up with her cloud duty, Pinkie Pie had to plan a "welcome-back-and-to-Equestria party", and Applejack needed to catch up with her farm work. Strangely enough, Nick asked Applejack if he could come along with her to her farm.

"Ah don't see why not. Let's go Sugarcube." Applejack said as she and Nick walked out the door.

"Wait, where are you going to sleep?" I protested.

"Don't worry none Sugarcube, he's more than welcome to stay at the farm." Applejack assured.

"Well, okay, but meet up with us in the morning, we have a lot to do."

"Fine mom." Nick shrugged. They soon departed the library, as did the other ponies, leaving only me, mom, Fluttershy, Discord, and Twilight.

"Oh, before I forget" Twilight walked back into the main part of the library. Using magic, she levitated at book from one of the shelves and handed it to my mom. She was a bit startled to see it float in mid air, but she grabbed the book. The title read "_The official guide to Equestrian culture and history." _

"This book is a great guide to get you started. Don't worry about returning it; it's yours until you don't need it anymore." Twilight said.

"Thank you Twilight. I'll be sure to give it a read." We said our goodbyes to Twilight and left the library. Fluttershy's cottage was on the other side of town, which was too damn far. I couldn't wait to lie down in my bed and cuddle with Fluttershy, I couldn't wait for her to cook her delicious dinner, I couldn't wait for life to return to normal.

**(Third person, Applejack's farm)**

Ever since the two met each other in that dark interrogation room back on earth, Nick knew Applejack was something else. Nick could remember seeing her large green eyes for the first time, those large mid-green eyes, those eyes were filled with the work ethic and determination only found in a member of the Apple family. Her calm, yet stern demeanor was a stark contrast to the girls Nick was familiar with. Whenever the blond twenty-three year old went out to the bars, or whenever he dated online, all the girls he meet were either dumb, bitchy, or just plain unattractive. It's not like the southerner tried, he's dated every creed of woman, whether it be black, white, religious, non-religious, straight or bisexual. Sometimes the man doubted if he would ever find that special someone, or in this case, special somepony.

Nick thought he was crazy; he couldn't possibly be attracted another race of animal, that was wrong, wasn't it? Nick was conflicted, sure she was an animal, but so was he. He was just as much of an animal as she was, but he wasn't _just _an animal, neither was Applejack. The two were unbelievably intelligent creatures, capable of complex emotions; hell, if Marcus and Fluttershy pulled it off, so was it wrong to love her? Wait, love? Its wasn't love was it? No, he just had a big fascination with the orange mare, yeah, that was it. But unbeknownst to Nickolas, Applejack was starting to get the same feelings for Nick.

She didn't have a crush on him immediately, in fact, she didn't think really high of him at first. She could remember a few days ago when Marcus was out helping on the fields, and the two began to talk. Applejack couldn't quite remember what they were talking about, but somehow Nick came into the conversation. The two took a break under the shade of an apple tree, as Marcus dwelt on his friend. Marcus explained to Applejack how much the two humans had in common. The two had a common love of Music; the two had very similar backgrounds concerning their upbringing, all though Nick's was much, much less tragic. Marcus told of how Nick was raised in what he described as "The South", and how his parents split up when he was a young boy. From then on, Nick had trouble making friends, and soon became a misanthrope much like Marcus, but only for a little bit during his teenage years. Nick found a good output for his bottled up and irrational hatred for humanity, heavy music.

Marcus told Applejack of how Nick was a big fan of the bands "Rammstein, KMFDM, and other metal and punk bands. These bands inspired him to pick up the bass guitar, which marked an end to his misanthropy. While she was happy that Nick changed, she did not like how Marcus described him. The bearded fiancé of Fluttershy told Applejack about the bands that Nick listened to. He told her of the bands violent and obscene lyrics, and their on-stage shenanigans. That painted a bad impression in her mind that Nick was too a vulgar, blunt, and generally unlikeable person. That all changed when the two started to converse.

Since Applejack's farm was on the outskirts of Ponyville, the two had some time to talk as they walked to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was perplexed as to why the skinny blonde wanted to come along with her, seeing as he has no knowledge of the land, ponies, or a general idea of how things worked. But, being the mare she was, she aloud him to tag along. This was perfect chance to see if Nick was how Marcus described. Applejack wasn't the kind of mare to take things at face value and just accept them. As the two started to walk, they asked each other certain questions like where they were from, what they liked and disliked, and what their favorite activities were. Unsurprisingly, Applejack told Nick that her favorite thing to do was to work on the farm, and be with her family. She told Nick of her sister, brother, and grandmother, and how close they were. The family had been through thick and thin together, and she was thankful to be working alongside them.

Nick favorite things to do were a surprise to Applejack. He of course told her how much he loved all music, but he meant _all _music. From country, to rock, and even a bit of what he described as "Gospel." This intrigued Applejack, at least this tall blonde was open-minded. He of course also told her of how much he loved playing the bass. But the thing that stuck out the most to Applejack was the third thing Nick told about himself. He said he loved to draw. He would drive all around town at dusk and dawn, with a paper and drawing utensils, and just drew the landscape. He told her of how he would sit atop a hill, and sketch the Twilight. He even told her about he was charged with trespassing on private property, just so he could get that one good sketch. He told Applejack that something about drawing just calmed him, and cleared his mind of all the stress of his life. His hobby took all the stress of college off him, all the stress of life off him, it was as if we was in his own little world, pondering deep philosophical things. Applejack knew from then on there was much more to this man. His qualities were so…diverse. He was both a hard worker, but had a soft spot. Applejack saw herself in Nick, maybe that's why she developed at crush on him.

As the two chuckled and exchanged funny stories, they finally arrived at the farm, and just on time too, the sun had almost set. Nick was amazed at how far the apple orchard extended. As far as he could see saw nothing but apple trees, which made him hungry. Applejack assured Nick that her family would love a new guest to dinner, which quelled Nick's nerves. The two approached a large red barn, with what looked like a barn-like house attached to it. Applejack walked to the front door and opened it, whereupon she was tackled by a small yellow bundle of joy. A small yellow coated filly with a red mane cuddle up to Applejack, her face smiling the entire time.

"Oh my gosh Applejack, ya' home. We was gettin' worried about ya'." It said as it squeezed her sister even harder.

"Easy there Applebloom, I'm just fine." Applejack said, standing up from the collision. The small filly turned her attention to Nick, who towered over her.

"Uh, Applejack? Is this one of Marcus' friends?" She asked, confused. For a second she could have sworn he was Marcus.

"As a matter of fact he is. Nick, is ma' little sister Applebloom. Applebloom, this is ma' friend Nick, who's also a friend of Marcus."

"Nick. Nick, Nick Nick, that's a real short name mister." Applebloom commented. The name just didn't sound right with her

"It's just what everyone calls me. My real name's Nickolas." Nick explained. Applebloom was a bit taken aback by Nick's accent. It sounded just like her's and Applejack's.

"Mister, how come you sound just like us, ain't you from another world or somethin'?"

"Now Applebloom, it ain't nice to interrogate guests. Let's go inside, I can already smell one of granny Smith's apple pies cookin'.'" The three walked inside the house. Nick was impressed, the inside was packed with furniture, pictures, it felt just like any home he's ever been in. It had warm feeling about it, which was always welcomed. The two ponies and human walked into the Apple family kitchen, where Applejack's brother and grandmother were sitting at the table. Big Macintosh darted his eyes towards the figures entering the kitchen, a smile grew on his face.

"Big Macintosh!" Applejack said as she ran up to hug her older brother. "Ah missed ya' so much!" The brother and sister took part in a big hug, Applebloom decided to join in as well. Nick couldn't help but smile the love and affection this little family had for one another.

"Any more room for me?" Granny Smith said. In response, Applejack pulled her into the group hug.

"For a minute, I thought somethin' happened to ya'." Big Macintosh said, leaving the group hug. As the family broke up the hug, Nick stood in the doorway and made himself known.

"So I'm assuming y'all are close?" The tall blonde said.

"Oh, were are ma' manners" Applejack said, pulling Nick towards the table. "Big Macintosh, this is Marcus' friend Nick. Nick, this is ma' big brother Big Macintosh."

"_Big Macintosh? That sounds like a porn name." _Nick thought.

"Nice to meet ya' partner." The large red stallion said "If I knew you were comin', I would've made an extra plate for ya'." Nick glanced over to the food that was set on the table. It was dried oats and flower petals with an apple on the side.

"That's fine. I don't think humans can eat flowers anyway." Nick chuckled. The blonde redneck took a seat Next to both Applejack and Applebloom.

"Nice to meet ya' sunny, the name's Granny Smith." The elderly pony said from across the table.

"Pleasure to me ya'." Nick said.

"So Applejack, what happened to ya'?" Applebloom asked with the curious demeanor that only a child and exhibit

"Now Applebloom, it ain't kind to talk with ya' mouth full. I'll let Nick here explain." Nick went on to explain the whole predicament he and his friends were in, although he gave a much shorter version then of the story than Twilight or Marcus would have told. Since he was around a small child, or filly, or whatever, he decided not to call the US government a steaming pile of vapid horse feces, but how he wanted to. After Nick finished, he could see the fire in Big Mac's eyes. He could tell he was pissed at the way Applejack was treated. Nick wasn't the only one to notice either.

"No need to get ya' tail in a twist Big Mac, I've been through much worse than a little scuffle like that." Applejack said, playing off the whole thing.

"Ah know, but I still can't stand when you get in scuffles like that, it make me worry for ya'." Big Mac said, taking a sip from his apple juice.

"That's sweet of ya' Big Mac." Applejack smiled toward her brother, which made him ease up a whole lot more.

"Well I got to go tuck lil' Applebloom in." Applejack said getting up from the table.

"Oh come on big sis, I don't even got school tomorrow!" The yellow filly protested.

"Look at it this way" Nick interjected "Maybe you and ya' friends Marcus told me about can show me around town. Who knows, it might help ya' get ya' cutie marks." Applebloom's eyes widened at the thought of getting her cutie mark. Applebloom hurried upstairs to her room. Applejack laughed her sister's enthusiasm.

"Do all humans have a silver tongue like you and Marcus?" Applejack asked.

"Nope, hell I don't even know what a cutie mark is. Marcus just told me about how Applebloom and her friends want to get one so bad." Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I know this might be a big favor, but can I stay here for the night? Its dark out and I'll get lost gettin' back to town."

"Don't worry Sugarcube, 'course you can stay here, ah already said you could. You can sleep on the couch, I'll get ya' some blankets." Applejack left the room and went to get Nick some blankets. Now Nick was alone in the living room. The tall blonde took a seat on the couch, and just sat there, contemplating his life to this point. Here he was, about to sleep in a house that belonged to talking magic ponies. It was funny really; this was a contrast to Nick's previous life. Everything in this damn dimension was so kind and cute he couldn't help but smile. But being the pessimist he was, Nick was sure he'd come across an asshole pony once made his way into town.

Nick's mind trailed off in a thousand different directions, the one he focused on most was getting a job. Now that he was living here, he needed to pull his own weight, he didn't like mooching off others, even if they insisted. Nick was an independent man, and he wanted to keep that title he assigned for himself. He guessed he'd play the bass in a band or something, or become an artist, he wasn't quite sure. Nick was pulled out of his thoughts when Applejack came into the room with a blanket and pillow in her mouth.

"Thank you Applejack" Nick said, looking directly into Applejack's eyes "This means a lot to me."

"No problem Sugarcube, goodnight." Applejack turned off the lights and headed upstairs to her room. Nick sighed out of exhaustion and lied down on the couch. Magic talking ponies, he still couldn't get over it.

**(Marcus' POV, Fluttershy's cottage)**

After what seemed like an eternity of walking and ponies waving and asking were I've been, we finally made our way to the cottage. Never in my life have I been so tired and stressed that I just wanted to collapse on the couch. I wonder if Equestria has an equivalent to that of weed, Nick would piss his pants in excitement if that were the case. We walked up the small trail and arrived at the front door. I opened the door, expecting to find the warm and comfort of the home I had gotten so used to, only to find the place in shambles. Pieces of pillow lay discarded on the floor, furniture was tipped over, and the kitchen was a mess with all sorts of critters in the cabinets, eating all the boxed food. Me and Fluttershy gasped, well I gasped, Fluttershy shrieked like a banshee. Her fright was soon replaced with level uncharacteristic level of anger. Her face was turning red with fury, it truly was a sight.

"EVERYPONY FRONT AND CENTER!" She yelled at the top of her voice, a volume that no one has heard before or since. Suddenly, all the animals that were making a mess of the place stopped what they were doing, and assembled in the living room.

"I am ashamed, ASHAMED, at what you done to the house!" Fluttershy scolded "I'm gone for a couple of days, and you think it would be a good idea to mess up the house?! All of you know better, especially you Angel!" Fluttershy pointed a hoof a Angel, who was particularly distraught by Fluttershy's words. "Everypony outside, NOW!" With their heads hung low, all the animals walked through specially made doors build in the back door itself, and entered the backyard. Fluttershy took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself. I was completely shaken, Fluttershy was never like that, even in the show she was more reserved than that. Then came the sound I never, ever, wanted to hear, she began to cry. She sat on her haunches in the middle of the living room, sobbing uncontrollably. Being her fiancé and future husband, I sat down next to her and embraced her. She tried to pull away, put my grip was too strong for her. She gave up and let herself sob into my shoulder.

"Discord, would you be so kind as to show mom her room, I have a feeling this is going to be a while." Discord nodded, not saying a word. The two ascended up the stairs and were soon out of sight. As they did that, I picked Fluttershy up and place her on the nearly ruined couch. I sat next to her, where she used me as a pillow to cry on for next fifteen minutes straight. After crying enough tears to drown a small creature in, she finally spoke up.

"I-I-I'm so s-s-sorry Markey!" She said, gripping my arm more than she already was.

"Shh, it's okay Fluttershy. I'm sure we can have this place cleaned up in no time.

"T-The mess isn't w-w-what's making so sad." I raised an eyebrow at that statement.

"What do mean by that Fluttershy?" I said, running my fingers through her mane.

"I've never been that angry in my entire life." She said, shaking her sad stutter. "Even at most angry, I've never been so…condemning of the animals before. I take care of them, for all intents and purposes I'm their mother, and I just yelled at them for being themselves. I don't know if they'll ever forgive me."

"Nonsense Fluttershy. I'm sure they've realized the mistakes they've made. There's no need to through yourself under the rug just because you had an outburst." Fluttershy tuned her head towards mine and kissed me on the cheek.

"I love you so much Marcus. You know just what to say." Wiping the tears from her eyes, she got up and walked towards the backdoor.

"I'm going to talk to the animals. You should go meet up with your mother." And with that, Fluttershy walked out the back door and into the backyard. I got up from the couch and walked up stairs to the guest bedroom. In there, Discord and mom were sitting at the table that sat in the corner of the room, idly chatting.

"Really? You humans have whoopee cushions back on your planet?" Discord asked in bewilderment.

"Oh yes. I remember the days of kindergarten when the boys would place one on my seat, and embarrass me in front of the whole class." The two shared a laugh.

"It would appear that the need to cause chaos transcends dimensions." Discord said.

"It would appear so." Mom glanced over the doorway where she saw me standing. Her face went from humorous to serious.

"How is she?" She deadpanned.

"She a-okay. With a few soothing words, I was able to calm her down. Now we just need to clean this place up.

"Allow me my good stallion." With a snap of his eagle claw, all the trash and ruined furniture in the room, and the rest of the house, was cleaned up and replaced. "Consider it as an apology for my rather loathsome behavior earlier." He said.

"Thanks Discord, I knew you weren't all bad. But where are you going to sleep?" I asked him. With another snap of his eagle claw, an upside down floating bed appeared above us.

"I'm sure you don't mind that do you?"

"As long as it doesn't crash through the floor and crush me, you're good." I heard trotting coming up the stairs.

"You got things from here mom?" I asked.

"I'll manage, I wished the bed was bigger though. Goodnight Marcus, I love you."

"I love you too mom. Be sure to wake up early tomorrow, we have to show you and Nick around town tomorrow." Mom turned of the lamp that lit the room and got in the tiny pony-size bed.

"Goodnight to you too Discord."

"Farewell 'till dawn friend." I closed the door and walked to my room. Since all the lights down stairs were turned off, Fluttershy must have finished her business downstairs and came upstairs for the night. I walked into my room, and saw Fluttershy cuddling with Angel on the couch.

"Aren't you two a cute couple." I chuckled. I started to undress while Fluttershy cuddled with Angel. Once I was down to my white undershirt and boxers, I took my place next to Fluttershy.

"Hey, leave some pony for me Angel." I teased. The little bunny sighed and moved to the foot of the bed much like a dog. I got under the covers and cuddled with Fluttershy.

"I can't wait for tomorrow, I'm sure Nick and Linda will love it here." Fluttershy yawned.

"I bet they will, but I have another reason for escorting them around."

"What is that Markey?"

"Well, we need to find a place to set up the wedding now don't we?" Fluttershy's eyes widened.


End file.
